Re: Word - dotted line page break?

I'm a newbie in MS Word (2004 version 11.3.5). I'm creating a
document and am noticing several fine dotted horizontal lines ever few
inches. Are these page breaks? Is there any way of going into
Preferences and disabling page breaks? Why would anyone wanted lines
going across their documents that they don't put in themselves? You
would think you could just right click the dotted line and it would
give you options. But no. Also I just noticed that when you're
reading the Help for Word the page blocks out the document. You can't
even switch between windows (Cmd_Tab) within Word. More brilliant
software design. You have to drag the window. Bizarre.

I am running the same version of MS Word. Dotted lines are used to
indicate page breaks in "Normal" mode. They should correspond to the
length of each page, which you set using the "Format -> Document" menu
selection. I am not sure why they are appearing "every few inches", and
not the 6.5 inches or so for normal 8.5 inch pages with 1 inch margins
at the top and bottom.

So I tried changing the View settings from Normal to Online Layout.
All lines have vanished. I guess I could work in Online Layout. Does
anybody know if there are any disadvantages to working in this layout?
I'm just compiling notes for myself with font, color, underline, bold
type settings. Pretty simple stuff. No margins or fancy, schmancy
stuff.

What size pages and margins does your document use?

As little as possible on the margins always to maximize screen real
estate. If I have to print it I change it the way the reader prefers
but that is rare.

These lines only appear if you are viewing the page in "Normal" mode,
which you set with the "View" menu. As far as know there is no way to
turn them off. You can try viewing your document in "Page Layout" mode,
in which the page breaks are shown as gaps between pages.

Normal people

Well I guess I'm not very normal......:)

want to see these lines because the layout of their text
is important to them. MS Word, like other word processing programs,
displays a lot of "meta" information as a guide for what will be
produced when the page is printed, such as paragraph marks, table
boundaries, tab characters, orphan and widow control, etc. If you want
to see only what will be printed, use the "Page Preview" feature (but
you can't edit in that view.)

Yes understood. I've used Page Preview to see how things are going to
turn out. Worked fine.

Use Command-Tilde (~), not Command-Tab, to switch between windows of
the same application (but that doesn't help with Word Help, which is
always at the top of the window stack).

Yes - very odd that they opted for that. Very awkward to switch
between screens unless you're working with some tiny window or using
multi monitors or have one huge monitor in which case you just display
them both at the same time. I've never seen that done before. Help
should be simply an additional window within the app.

Anyway in "Help" it says to use Format, Paragraph, Line and Page
Breaks, and uncheck Widow/Orphan control. I did. The breaks remain.
Then I closed the window and reopened it. The breaks remain. I
checked Widow/Orphan control and its unchecked. Do I have to do
something else to remove the page breaks (if that's what they really
are)?

You cannot remove page breaks, because they are not entities in your
document, but just indicators of where the page will be broken when it
is printed. You could try creating a custom size document that is very
long in the vertical dimension, but you won't be able to print it
unless you have a continuous feed printer.

I'll try that. How do I set it long in the vertical dimension?

There are about 4 lines per page but they are not labeled page break.
I guess they're something else. I brought up the Show/Hide button on
the Standard toolbar but it didn't give any indication as to what the
lines are or how to delete them.

If they aren't page breaks, I don't know what they are.

Are all page breaks labeled "page breaks"? I created one manually and
it did have the label on it. These have no labels. Maybe they're not
page breaks at all.

What are the dimensions of your document's pages?

Its a few pages long. Not sure what you mean by dimensions. Just a
standard 8.5 x 11" portrait style page with no margins showing.

You can insert explicit and actual
page breaks (actual in the sense that they are entities within your
document) using the "Insert -> Break -> Page Break" menu selection, but
in that case they are clearly labeled with "Page Break" in a small font
as part of the dotted line (and the dots are closer together.)

I just tried it again and the dots are identical. But one is labeled
Page Break and the other is not. Also I can delete the page break by
backspacing. That doesn't happen with these other lines. Its like
they are floating on top or below the document.

What is wrong with knowing where your pages are going to be broken?

Well since I almost never print and keep hundreds of document files
for myself on my computer, its just an irritant to see something
repeatedly there that shouldn't be there.

Update: I just was wondering if the lines do indeed match up with the
page's end and beginning and sure enough they do. So maybe it is a
Page Break after all. By changing the Margins in Document (under
Format) I can move the dotted lines up and down the page. I'd like to
get rid of them of course. If I could set it up for a continuous
display of one page, that might work. Is that possible? Sort of like
in Adobe Reader where there is no page breaks - just one continuous
page.

Please understand that MS Word is one of the most seriously bloated
pieces of software ever written. It is very powerful and can be
difficult to use. There is a lot more to complain about than "what are
these funny lines doing on my page?" Still, a lot of people use it
successfully.

Yes - it works very well for me almost all the time. Sometimes
toolbars will appear when I don't want them and sometimes you have to
keep on selecting preferences before it remembers them but generally
it works well for my uses.

Maybe when you encounter something unfamiliar in the computer world you
should ask yourself "What does that do, I wonder, and why?", rather
than exclaim "Bizarre". Most software functionality is there for a
purpose, and somebody, somewhere thought it was a good idea to include
it. Ask yourself why, and just accept it, or complain to the company
who made the software. Complaining on Usenet groups isn't very
productive.

You've probably got a good point there.
.

Relevant Pages

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