[Solved] Things that should be simple are a mystery

[solar]

Suddenly, for no apparent reason, two new pages appeared at the bottom of a document. Why? One is black and the next is blank. It seems that there is no way to get rid of them either and no way to find out how that could be done. I would like to know how to rid myself of these mystery pages, why they have appeared and why there is no mention in help of how to delete pages once they have mysteriously manufactured themselves. Just frustrating.

SOLVED, thanks

[RusselB]

Which part of OpenOffice was used to make this file? Writer, Calc, Draw, etc.?
What format was used to save the file?
Is it possible to share the file with us? If a sample of the file showing the problem can be made without revealing confidential information, that would probably be sufficient.
Realistically, without the file or one showing the same problem. I like my odds of winning the lottery without a ticket better than my odds of giving you a solution.

[Bill]

@solar: The way to delete a page is to delete what's on the page. Since only you have the document, then only you can find and delete what's on the mystery pages.

[keme]

... what Bill said.

Reason: In Writer, pages are not independently created. They are automatically spawned when required, as content grows or is remade so that it does not fit within preexisting pages.

In this respect Writer is different from the other document-creating applications, where you create a new slide or sheet first, before you can fill it with content.

So, don't look for page removal tools or menu options, but try to identify the content which has forced the "rogue" pages into existence, and remove that content.

Fancy a shot in the dark? Save your work first. Then try ctrl+end followed by backspace.

[solar]

I used writer to create the file. There is nothing on either of the two new pages so there is nothing to delete. The first page though is completely black but again, nothing there to delete. There is space remaining on the previous page so the pages were not created to continue writing. I have attached the file so you can have a look at it. It seems to me that open office has some really odd behaviours that don't seem to ever be fixed. Copying and pasting from a page on the net for instance doesn't have a happy result - I have discovered that if I go to edit and then "paste special" it works but why would you have to do something like that? It seems absurd.

[robleyd]

There are in fact two tables. Open Navigator - F5 - and go to Tables; you will see two tables that have been inserted. Right click on the table names, select Table | Delete.

[RusselB]

I'd say that, probably, 99% of the time when you copy things from the net, you get information that is relevant to it being displayed properly on the net, but not relevant as to it being displayed or used by you.
The usage of the .doc extension is not recommended, and this tutorial shows many, if not all, of the differences.

As to your attached document, using View -> Non-Printing Characters shows 2 forced pages.
Initially I attempted to just delete the forced page characters, but when that didn't have any effect, I did a bit more checking and found that the "black" page contained 2 tables that were empty of content, but contained a black background.
I suspect that this may have been a table or advertisement that showed on the webpage, based on your comments about copying and pasting from the net.

Attached is your file with the extra tables removed, and saved using the recommended .odt format

[Bill]

There's no mystery here. Clicking on the black page pops up the Table Toolbar, instantly telling the user that there's at least one table on the black page. Delete the tables and the extra pages disappear.

[solar]

thank you for the help. I still fail to understand why tables were created even if I was copying and pasting individual lines of print from the net. I never copied and pasted tables of any kind or made any request to create them or extra pages. I've never had these sorts of things happen with any other program such as word. And using a program such as word it has never been a problem to copy and paste lines of print. The mystery remains for me.

[RoryOF]

The tables were each linked to a bookmark in the document; the bookmark is just in front of Atnarko.

[solar]

I did use "paste special" when copying and pasting otherwise there are lots of problems. It seems that has its own set of problems. It seems to me that something needs to be fixed with regard to copying and pasting in this program as I would think it is a very common activity. Thanks again for all the help and responses.

[Bill]

Paste Special > Unformatted pastes only the text--no tables, graphics, bookmarks, etc. You must have used Paste Special > HTML which will paste tables.

[solar]

nope, I only use paste special ctrl+shift+v

[Bill]

If pasting "Unformatted Text" results in a table, then your copy of AOO is broken. All I can suggest is complete removal and reinstallation with resetting of the user profile.

[RoryOF]

It is equally likely that as you moved your mouse the selection changed from the unformatted text selection to that for HTML text.

[RusselB]

When I use CTRL+SHIFT+V for Paste Special, the default selection is for the HTML.
I have to move the selector to get the Unformatted text.

[solar]

I actually just click on paste special and had no idea it had a default selection, how odd.

[Villeroy]

AOO 4.1.5 has a keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+Shift+V for unformatted text without confirmation.

[RoryOF]

/Edit /Paste Special should pop up the choices available. The keyboard shortcuts are specific each to a preselected choice.

[Bill]

I actually just click on paste special and had no idea it had a default selection, how odd.

When you "just click on paste special", nothing should be pasted immediately. Assuming that you have copied something from the Internet to the clipboard, a "Paste Special" dialog box should appear with two options "Unformatted text" and "HTML (HyperText Markup Language)". One of those should be highlighted, indicating that it is the default selection (that's typical behavior for dialog boxes in any program--it's not something I would describe as "odd"). You have to make sure that "Unformatted text" is highlighted (selected) before you click OK on the Paste Special dialog box to complete the paste.

[solar]

I tried it again and you are correct - unformatted is already highlighted and that is what I have been using - so still have no idea how columns would have been introduced