WD97: Changing Text Formatting Changes Paragraph Formatting

• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

If you select all of the text in a paragraph, excluding the paragraph mark, and change the font formatting of the text, the formatting changes will be applied to the paragraph mark also. This will affect any subsequent paragraphs when you press ENTER from any point within this paragraph. This functionality is different from earlier versions of Word.

NOTE: To see the paragraph mark and other nonprinting characters, click the Show/Hide button on the Standard toolbar.

CAUSE

When you apply font formatting to a selection of text that spans a paragraph, Word assumes you want to change the paragraph formatting even though you did not select the paragraph mark.

WORKAROUND

To format all of the text within a paragraph, without affecting the paragraph formatting (excluding the paragraph mark), select all but one character of the paragraph and then apply the font formatting. Select the remaining character and apply the same font formatting.

MORE INFORMATION

In earlier versions of Word, if you want to apply character formatting to the paragraph mark, you must select it before you apply the font formatting; otherwise, the paragraph mark will not take on the new character formatting.

In Word 97, if all of the text in the paragraph is selected (excluding the paragraph mark), character formatting changes are applied not only to the text of the paragraph, but also to the paragraph mark.

Selecting white space before or after the text has no affect on this behavior.

REFERENCES

For more information about character formatting, click the Office Assistant, type "character formatting," click Search, and then click one of the topics.

For more information about paragraph formatting, click the Office Assistant, type "troubleshooting paragraph formatting," click Search, and then click one of the topics.

NOTE: If the Assistant is hidden, click the Office Assistant button on the Standard toolbar. If Word Help is not installed on your computer, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

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