paragraph mark

A reader recently wrote to me asking me how to remove the blank page at the end of the table in her document. When you create a table that ends at the bottom margin in an MS Word document, Word will automatically insert a new blank page. This takes ... place whether you want it or not because there is a paragraph inserted by default at the end of your document. If you click on the pilcrow on your toolbar (looks like a backwards P) it will turn on the Show/Hide button, which will reveal a paragraph mark after the table. This can be very annoying, especially when you do not need an extra page. Word ... (view more)

Here's a tip for MS Word users who do a lot of cutting and pasting with text and prefer to minimize the number of times they reach for the mouse. For example: suppose you want to copy and paste a line that which uses the "Heading" format into a ... paragraph with normal formatting. When you select the line, MS Word will also select the paragraph mark which denotes a carriage return (or the beginning of a new line). If you simply paste the line (instead pasting as "unformatted text"), Word will impose the "Heading" style on the line you just pasted. Here's a quick and easy way to copy and paste ... (view more)