WD97: Changing Text Formatting Also 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 are applied to the paragraph mark also. This affects 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 does 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 effect 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:

Q120802 Office: How to Add/Remove a Single Office Program or Component

Q159941 WD97: General Information about "Auto" Features in Word 97

Q108501 WD: Heading Numbering Command Changes Style, Paragraph Formatting

Q161976 WD97: Reveal Formatting Help Tool Not Installed

Q123302 WD: How to Reset Character and Style Formatting in Word

Q97793 WD: Underline Formatting Does Not Appear at End of Line

Q158565 WD97: Character Format Functions Ignore Leading, Trailing Spaces

Additional query words: word97

Keywords : kbualink97 kbusage
Version : WINDOWS:97
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb