SYMBOL Field Affects Word Wrapping and Nonbreaking Characters

• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD, 2.0b,

SUMMARY

If you use Symbol command from the Insert menu to place a symbol character in your document, one of the following problems may result:

• A symbol character inserted next to a nonbreaking space or nonbreaking hyphen may prevent the nonbreaking space or hyphen from working as expected.

  -or-

• A symbol character inserted as part of a word (for example, a copyright symbol) may prevent the word from wrapping correctly.

MORE INFORMATION

A nonbreaking space (CTRL+SHIFT+SPACEBAR) prevents a line break between two words, as in the example "2 ft." A nonbreaking hyphen (CTRL+SHIFT+HYPHEN) prevents a line break in a hyphenated word, as in the example "232-3432." However, neither character works as expected when you insert an adjacent symbol using the Insert Symbol command because this command inserts a field code rather than ANSI characters.

Similarly, words that contain a SYMBOL field may not wrap correctly. For example, if you use the Insert Symbol command to insert a copyright symbol at the end of a word, the copyright symbol may wrap, but the word itself may not. If you insert a SYMBOL field adjacent to a footnote reference, Word breaks the line between the text or footnote reference and the SYMBOL field.

Workarounds

• From the Insert menu, choose Symbol, select Normal Text in the Symbol From box and then select a symbol from this character set. When you insert a symbol from the Normal Text character set, Word inserts the symbol character but does not insert a SYMBOL field.

  -or-

• Insert the symbol using the Windows version 3.1 Character Map (found in Windows Program Manager Accessories group).

  -or-

• Insert the symbol using ANSI characters. With NUM LOCK on, hold down the ALT key, and using the keys on the numeric keypad, type 0 (zero) and the ANSI decimal code for the character you want to insert. (You may need to first change character formatting to the font that contains the symbol character, such as Symbol or Wingdings.)

  To determine the ANSI character code for the symbol: ----------------------------------------------------

  1. Be sure the Field Codes command on the View menu has a check

        mark so that all fields show their codes. (If this command does
        not have a check mark, choose Field Codes to switch to field
        code view.)
  

  2. Insert a symbol using the Insert Symbol command. Note the number

        and font in the SYMBOL field. (Then, delete the field.)
  

        In the following example, the ANSI character code is 149 and
        the font is Wingdings:
  

           {SYMBOL 149 \f "Wingdings"}
  
     You can also determine the ANSI character code by using the Windows
     version 3.1 Character Map (found in Windows Program Manager
     Accessories group). Select the symbol you want and look in the
     Keystroke box in the lower right corner for the ANSI code and the
     Font box in the upper left corner for the name of the font.
  

For more information on using the nonbreaking space and nonbreaking hyphen characters in Word for Windows, query on the following words in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   symbol and line and wrap

"Microsoft Word for Windows User's Guide," version 2.0, pages 91, 153-155