Cursor doesn't "push" text forward

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jimmy
  • Start date Start date
J

Jimmy

Hi. When I edit a Word doc and place the "blinking bar" in front of a line of
text (on the left margin) why doesn't the space bar push the text forward? If
I move the "blinking bar" after the first character in the line, the space
bar works. I have Word 2007 but it's the same in all versions of Word. Why is
this? Is it possible to fix this so the space bar push text from the
beginning of the line? Thank you.
Jimmy
 
What happens when you press the space bar or type other text? Does existing
text in front of the cursor get deleted?

If so... then you're in Overtype mode. Press the Insert key to toggle
Overtype off. There should be an indicator at the bottom of the Word window
in the status bar. You can also toggle Overtype on/off by clicking that
indicator. If you don't see it, then right click the status bar and choose
Overtype.
 
Dear Herb, thanks for the prompt reply. It is not an overtype issue, which I
have dealt with in the past. The text in front of the cursor is not getting
deleted. My issue is happening in a Word doc. I have Auto-format turned off.
I'll type an example:

1. This is a sample of what happens when I try to "push"
the word "the" forward in this sentence.

In the example above, if I were to type the first line until the right
margin moved the text to the next line, or just pushed the "Enter" key after
"push" and then placed the blinking bar in front of the second line starting
word (the), the space bar would not advance the text forward. If I placed the
blinking cursor between the letters t and h in the word "the", I could then
push the h and all of the following text forward. Why can't I push starting
at the beginning of the line? This is not a "corrupted" issue. It has bugged
me in Office XP and Office 2003 also. Why doesn't the space bar work from any
location?!?! Can I fix this? Thanks. Jimmy.
 
What's happening is that the spaces are being added at the beginning of the
preceding line. If you press Ctrl+Shift+8 to toggle non-printing formatting
marks ON, you can see it happening. Word inserts the spaces at the end of
the preceding line precisely to avoid the non-printing spaces affecting the
text on the next line.

Basically... the answer is that Word is not like a typewriter. Word doesn't
want you to insert spaces to move stuff to the right. If you want the word
"the" to move to the right, there are other and arguably better ways to do
it.

However... if you want to do it with spaces, then you'll need to use
non-breaking spaces, by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar.
 
You should be able to "push" the line with spaces after a paragraph break
(or line break), but you can't do it after a normal line wrap because the
spaces pile up at the end of the previous line. If you display nonprinting
characters, you'll see how this works. There is a Compatibility Option that
can change this ("Wrap trailing spaces to next line"), but I don't really
advise using that. Instead, depending on what you are trying to do, use a
hanging indent or some other spacing option.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
 
Dear Suzanne, thank you for your response. After a little more experimenting
I think I was incorrect in stating that hitting the "enter" key before the
"wrap" didn't allow me to "push" the next line. I know there is a reason why
you can't push a wrapped line with the spacebar but I can't figure what it
is. What difference does it make?! I used Herb's suggestion of Ctrl+Sh+8 and
I could then see the space bar "dots" trail off into infinity and beyond.
(Where do they go?!) Anyway, I may turn auto format back on and experiment
with the margin and indent thing some more. I turned it off because changing
numbers and doing other things was a big hassle and I don't use Word enough
to remember the steps. I number my paragraphs 1.2.3....etc. All I am trying
to do is make the lines past the first line be at about the same indent as
the first line. It sounds easy (and maybe it is) but I can't seem to figure
it out. I know. I know. Get "Word for Dummies". I'll tell you this much, I'll
be using Herb's Ctrl+Sh+spacebar over-ride with reckless abandon. What's not
to like? I can move my text where I want and it prints fine. Thanks again.
Jimmy.
 
Suzanne diagnosed your solution precisely.

Go to Format | Paragraph | Indentation | Special | Hanging.

You can set this "hanging indent" in one of your styles, or it will be
followed in each successive paragraph until you select Normal style
again.

(Speaking as an editor and typesetter, it is a real nightmare when an
author tries to "format" paragraphs with spaces or tabs.)
 
Thanks for the reponse. I can't say I agree with you about Suzanne's
"precise" solution. I do a lot of copy and pasting of text into Word
documents. As soon as you paste text, it over-rides the special/hanging and
everything goes back to the left margin, so I'm back to square one. I am
obviously not a student of Word, but it seems to have too many complicated
ways to do things that I think should be easier. If I was submitting anything
I created using Word to an editor or typesetter, I would learn how to use it
properly, but I'm far from that stage. I'm finished with this discussion.
Thanks everybody. Jimmy
 
It only overrides if you replace one paragraph mark with another
paragraph mark. You might get stuff with the old formatting plopped
into the middle of the text you're pasting it into, but you fix that
either by keeping it selected and clicking on the style name, or with
that annoying button that appears whenever you paste something, which
has an option for taking on the formatting of the new context.
 
FWIW, if the Paste Options button annoys you, you can disable it on the Edit
tab of Tools | Options.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

It only overrides if you replace one paragraph mark with another
paragraph mark. You might get stuff with the old formatting plopped
into the middle of the text you're pasting it into, but you fix that
either by keeping it selected and clicking on the style name, or with
that annoying button that appears whenever you paste something, which
has an option for taking on the formatting of the new context.
 
But then it would take lots of clicking to do what it does. It would
be better if it appeared only when I wanted it to. (Such as, not after
a Drag'n'Drop!)
 
I agree that drag and drop shouldn't be considered "pasting." I have Paste
Options disabled because I think I would use it very rarely. The only time
it would probably be helpful is in tables (my first paste invariably seems
to nest a cell or table). Otherwise, my needs are usually pretty simple.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

But then it would take lots of clicking to do what it does. It would
be better if it appeared only when I wanted it to. (Such as, not after
a Drag'n'Drop!)
 
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