Okay, I don't know if I'm stupid or not, you all know I have trouble with the computer, but this problem is driving me absolutely nuts and I've been on Word Help for about an hour with no clear answer.
It seems for some reason, after I've gotten a document back from someone else (crit partners in this case) all my formatting for whatever doc. I'm working on automatically CHANGES to what they use.
I used to have a 0.5" indent for my paragraphs, now it's 48 px. What is that? I don't want it, don't care about it, I want my 0.5" back. It's what I know, what I've used, what I like.
I've tried to clear my formatting. It isn't working. I've tried going into the drop down menu, that doesn't seem to work either. I've gone into paragraphs, into tabs, used the ruler, nothing is working.
Can someone please tell me how to format my ^%$&#* manuscript to the way I used to have it? My margins are off, my ruler is off, my tabs are all screwed up. ARGH!
And why does my style automatically change to someone else's? I can't work on my new doc. because I can't get an indent to a paragraph.
And what is up with my ruler? It's out of whack. Question -- I recently changed out my old Dell 14" monitor to an 18.5 (which I think I seriously hate, could that be why I'm having all this trouble? doubt it, but worth the question.)
Also, what the hay-zoo do I have to do to completely CLEAR all the formatting and start all over again?
Does anybody have a clue? Can anybody help me before I drive myself completley insane.
13 comments:
Have you tried going into "reveal formatting" to figure out what the formatting is so you can locate specific things to change?
Been there. Have gone into every drop box and styles program there is.
I cannot get the ruler to work, nor can I get the stupid auto indent to work for the first line following a paragraph.
Thanks.
Sorry. I feel for you, but I'm not much help at this sort of thing. They must be saving it with their set formatting before working on it and sending it back to you. Honestly, I'm no help.
Thanks Rula. It used to be easy when I worked on my old Smith-Corna typewriter. I could manually adjust everything. Now I have no clue. Wish I still had that typewriter.
I'm confused a little. Do you use the document they send back to you as the original? I'll only copy and paste passages from a critiquers document into my own, using paste special unformatted text. Are you doing something different?
Don -- No. And I have their crit on one screen and pop up when I need it, but make all my changes to my original word doc.
But that isn't the problem. The problem is I'm in an entirely different, brand new doc. and my regular formatting is gone. I used to be able to just open my docs and type. Now it seems as if I have all these other "things" going on, like headings (which I do not use at all) styles (which I keep deleting) and random tabs (which I have only ever used one -- the 0.5" I had for my paragraphs.)
I'm most assuredly confused.
Sorry, I know many programs well but Word is not one of them.
I'm not sure how just opening a doc sent to you would change all your previous formatting in word. I've never heard of that. Sorry! So it's not about the manuscript. When you create a new blank doc is it the same wonky formatting?
How frustrating! Wish I had something helpful to tell you, but I'm tech dunce about these kinds of things. Good luck figuring it out. :)
Do you remember a box popping up when you closed a document saying that changes had been made to normal.dot and asking if you wanted to accept them?
If you think that might be your problem, do a search for normal.dot and delete the file. The next time you open Word it will create a new one with the usual settings.
Have you tried copying your entire document and pasting it in a brand new word document? That's usually what i do when i get fed up. It usually works
I'm so surely not an expert, but it sounds like two different versions of word may be at work here. It may be the newer version others are using are taking over your old version????? Don't know how to fix it though. Sorry!
Anne, did you get this figured out? I know Visual Basic, and if you have a muck-up, I might be able to write a script that fixes it.
In fact, it is on my near-term project list to put out a manuscript doc to my fellow bloggers, with some neat features.
saulgoode35 at yahoo, or eric at erictrant dot com.
- Eric
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