Computer TIP

MS-Word - Formatting Problems

The problems that plague beginning Word users the most are rooted in how Word stores formatting instructions and is set to work by default. The first thing you should do when you encounter a formatting problem is click the Show/Hide button to reveal the hidden characters. Paragraph marks (also called pilcrows) are fundamental to how Word works. As mentioned previously, Word stores formatting for each paragraph in the paragraph mark.

The most common problem that new users face is, when they choose to change the formatting and then hit Enter, the text continues formatting the next paragraph using the formatting applied to the previous paragraph. Word uses the "select, and then operate" paradigm to apply formatting. Thus, to change the formatting, you must select the paragraph mark and apply the new formatting, or position the insertion point in the paragraph and then choose the style you want to use. Manually formatting text, however, doesn't resolve some of the problems generated by Word's automatic text correction and formatting features.