[Solved] Blocks in the text in Writer, not in MS Word

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bethune
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[Solved] Blocks in the text in Writer, not in MS Word

Post by bethune »

Hello. This is hard to describe, but I'll do the best I can. I have OpenOffice 4.1.10 on Windows 10 64bit. When I open an existing Word document, throughout the document, I see vertical blocks. I don't have an example to show you, because when I copy and paste the example in here, the vertical blocks disappear. The vertical blocks only appear in the word document, not in a text document. They are like this "|", but they are blocks. I did search the forum for this, but did not see anything related to it. I am not sure if it is formatting or not, because I have never seen this in a word document. If I open this document in Word, I don't see the vertical blocks, only when I open in OpenOffice. Any ideas?

Title Edited. A descriptive title for posts helps others who are searching for solutions and increases the chances of a reply (Hagar, Moderator).
Last edited by Hagar Delest on Mon May 17, 2021 10:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: tagged solved.
OpenOffice 4.1.10 on Windows 10
FJCC
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Re: openoffice writer

Post by FJCC »

Those might be non-breaking spaces or other "Field" content. Do they disappear if you remove the selection from the menu item View -> Field Shadings?
OpenOffice 4.1 on Windows 10 and Linux Mint
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Hagar Delest
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Re: openoffice writer

Post by Hagar Delest »

Can you open a sample file (see: How to attach a document here)?
If in the margin, it may be the track changes record.
LibreOffice 7.6.2.1 on Xubuntu 23.10 and 7.6.4.1 portable on Windows 10
John_Ha
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Re: Blocks in the text in Writer, not in MS Word

Post by John_Ha »

See below.
Clipboard01.png
Clipboard01.png (8.85 KiB) Viewed 4440 times
As a new poster you will find much useful information in the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials, the up to date AOO Writer for Students and the Writer User Guide. May I suggest you bookmark the pages.

Press F1 to access the Help screen and search for your problem

The chapter headings in the manual are:

1 - Introducing Writer
2 - Setting up Writer
3 - Working with Text
4 - Formatting Pages
5 - Printing, Exporting, Faxing and E-Mailing
6 - Introduction to Styles
7 - Working with Styles
8 - Working with Graphics
9 - Working with Tables
10 - Working with Templates
11 - Using Mail Merge
12 - Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies
13 - Working with Master Documents
14 - Working with Fields
15 - Using Forms in Writer
16 - Customizing Writer – Keyboard shortcuts.

When a pop-up window opens, click the Help button for extensive help on that function - it is often more comprehensive than the manual.
LO 6.4.4.2, Windows 10 Home 64 bit

See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.

Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
bethune
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Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 2:42 pm

Re: Blocks in the text in Writer, not in MS Word

Post by bethune »

THANKS!! I did as you suggested, I brought up a document and I went to View, clicked on Field Shadings and those gray vertical blocks disappeared. I thought that I would have to do that with each document, but I only did it on one and any other document that I brought up, those pesky gray vertical blocks WERE NOT THERE. Again, thank you.
OpenOffice 4.1.10 on Windows 10
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RoryOF
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Re: Blocks in the text in Writer, not in MS Word

Post by RoryOF »

Note that when shaded these non-breaking spaces do not print shaded. Often one needs to see them to fine tune formatting.
Apache OpenOffice 4.1.15 on Xubuntu 22.04.4 LTS
FJCC
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Re: Blocks in the text in Writer, not in MS Word

Post by FJCC »

Be aware that the shading of the fields has disappeared but the fields are still there. If you do not expect them to be there, it might be worthwhile figuring out where they come from.
OpenOffice 4.1 on Windows 10 and Linux Mint
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John_Ha
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Re: [Solved] Blocks in the text in Writer, not in MS Word

Post by John_Ha »

FJCC wrote:If you do not expect them to be there, it might be worthwhile figuring out where they come from.
If you have some text in an email which has two or more spaces between words and you copy that text into Writer, all but the last space come in as a non-breaking spaces. It is how I created my image above.

Edit > Find and Replace. Type a space in the Find and in the Replace field. Click Replace all. This converts all non-breaking spaces to normal spaces.
LO 6.4.4.2, Windows 10 Home 64 bit

See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.

Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
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