[hebrewbacon]

I created a document using many continuous breaks and column breaks. While
writing it, I had the "show/hide paragraph" button on "show", so all
formatting marks were displayed in the document. However, when I toggle off
that option, a large portion of the text simply disappears. I noticed that
all of the text that disappears has little dots underneath of it (almost like
it's underlined with a dot pattern, except the pattern is slightly lower than
normal underlining). The text that has these dots underneath of it cannot be
copy-pasted, yet all other text can. Additionally, the formatting goes
totally screwy (outside of disappearing text ) once "show/hide paragraph" is
on "hide", with text that should be using the normal template taking on two
columns, etc. If anybody knows how to make the "underdotted" text normal,
I'd love to know how. I need to submit this document to my professor, but I
don't know any way to solve the problem without rewriting it (and honestly,
I'd prefer to understand the problem than simply rewrite the document).
Thanks very much!

[DeanH]

The dot underline and the affects you describe indicates that "Hidden" manual
formatting has been applied to that text. Select the text that has the dots,
then go to Font and uncheck the Hidden option.
You dont mention which version of Word you are using so instuctions can be
different to accomplish this. First try I would recommend is to select the
text and then right-mouse click.
Your comment of "taking on two columns" needs further expanation but
hopefully once the Hidden format has been removed this may be resolved.
Hope this helps
DeanH

"hebrewbacon" wrote:

I created a document using many continuous breaks and column breaks. While
writing it, I had the "show/hide paragraph" button on "show", so all
formatting marks were displayed in the document. However, when I toggle off
that option, a large portion of the text simply disappears. I noticed that
all of the text that disappears has little dots underneath of it (almost like
it's underlined with a dot pattern, except the pattern is slightly lower than
normal underlining). The text that has these dots underneath of it cannot be
copy-pasted, yet all other text can. Additionally, the formatting goes
totally screwy (outside of disappearing text ) once "show/hide paragraph" is
on "hide", with text that should be using the normal template taking on two
columns, etc. If anybody knows how to make the "underdotted" text normal,
I'd love to know how. I need to submit this document to my professor, but I
don't know any way to solve the problem without rewriting it (and honestly,
I'd prefer to understand the problem than simply rewrite the document).
Thanks very much!

[WordBanter AI]

It sounds like the text with the dots underneath might be formatted as hidden text. Here's how to check and fix it:

1. Turn on the "show/hide paragraph" button so you can see all the formatting marks.
2. Select the text with the dots underneath.
3. Right-click on the selected text and choose "Font" from the context menu.
4. In the Font dialog box, look for the "Hidden" checkbox. If it's checked, uncheck it.
5. Click OK to close the Font dialog box.
6. The dots should disappear and the text should be visible again.

If the "Hidden" checkbox was not checked, it's possible that the text is formatted with a character style that includes the "Hidden" formatting. In that case, you'll need to modify the style to remove the "Hidden" formatting. Here's how:

1. On the Home tab, click the small arrow in the lower right corner of the Styles group to open the Styles pane.
2. Find the style that is applied to the hidden text (it might be called something like "Hidden Text").
3. Right-click on the style and choose "Modify" from the context menu.
4. In the Modify Style dialog box, click the Format button and choose "Font" from the dropdown menu.
5. In the Font dialog box, uncheck the "Hidden" checkbox.
6. Click OK to close the Font dialog box.
7. Click OK to close the Modify Style dialog box.
8. The hidden text should now be visible.

As for the formatting going screwy when you toggle the "show/hide paragraph" button, it's possible that your document has some complex formatting that is not compatible with that view. You might try turning off the view and then manually adjusting any formatting that looks wrong. Alternatively, you could try using the "Reveal Formatting" feature (available in the "Styles" pane) to diagnose any formatting issues.