[xtremekinetix]

I am writing a dissertation using Word 04, and the program is starting to get on my nerves. These are the problems I am experiencing:

1. When I highlight a block of text (e.g. a quote) and change the line spacing from double to single, Word changes the WHOLE document, not just the block that I selected. Does similar things for block indents and centering selected sections of text, as well. If I press Command-Z to undo, it undoes the action, leaving only what I wanted changed in the first place. OK, I guess. However...

2. After undoing the action to "fix" the document, there are extra lines in my headers, which pushes the text down and leaves a couple of inches or more of blank space at the top of each page. Going and deleting the extra lines from the header every time I have to change spacing for a block quote, center a figure, or anything else is getting very annoying.

I think that this may be caused by some kind of invisible formatting marker that is mixed up at some place in the document. At the outset of my project, I was cutting and pasting a lot of notes, and something may have been transferred into my document that I am now working with that is causing the issues. Other documents that I work with (for example, my journal or other chapters of my work) do not experience this problem.

Any suggestions on how to sort this out? Much thanks in advance.

[cpac]

You should be using styles for such a large document.

I'd cut and paste the whole thing (unformatted) into a new document, create appropriate styles, and then apply them.

[Shades of Gray]

I strongly recommend styles for formatting. BUT... make sure that when you set up the styles in the style dialog box (new or modify), that the box labeled "Automatically updated" is NOT checked. Otherwise you will run into this problem.

[xtremekinetix]

Ahh...maybe that is why this is happening. I did create styles for headings 1-3. And in every case the box for "Update automatically" was checked...

Thanks so much for the advice. Any other thoughts?

[tooki]

1. Learn how most everything in Word is tied to the all-mighty paragraph. (See #3 for most of the rest.)
2. Learn to use styles, a lot, and then assign them key commands. You'd be amazed how fast you can work when a whole style is attached to a keystroke.
3. Learn to use section breaks. You don't wanna know how many curse words I screamed when Word kept restarting page numbering at page 1 when I did a mail merge into one document. Once you have mastered the section break, you can use it to create non-contiguous numbering (or prevent it as needed), use mixed column styles, mixed page sizes, etc. (Note that section breaks are much easier to use on Word for Mac than they are on Word for Windows!!!)

tooki