Page Break display problem in Word 2007

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I run Office 2007 on my Windows 7 Pro (64 bit computer). I almost always use Word in the Draft mode.

I have noticed that when I am working on a file saved as a .doc file, and hit Ctrl+Enter to get a Page break, I get a nice fine-dotted line with the words ‘Page Break’ in the center. Very easy to recognize that I have a page break.

However, when I am working on a .docx file, and hit Ctrl+Enter to get a Page break, all I get is a Paragraph Mark about 20 spaces in from the left margin. It is impossible to tell at a glance whether this is a Page break, or just a large indent.

Is there some way that I can get the fine-dotted line with the words ‘Page Break’ in the center to appear with a .docx file?

Thanks as always for your assistance,

Harry

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This may be a Word 2007 behaviour – I don’t see it with Word 2010 – or it may have something to do with other aspects of your docx file’s paragraph formatting.

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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Is there some way that I can get the fine-dotted line with the words ‘Page Break’ in the center to appear with a .docx file?

The only way I can find to show what you want with a .docx file in Word 2007 is to turn on ‘Show (paragraph marks)’ either using the toolbar button or using CTRL+*. Even then, the page break doesn’t show across the width of the page.

37345-docx
Click the screenshot above to enlarge it

Hope this helps…

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Without non-printing formatting characters displayed, you won’t see a page break at all in draft mode.

I see that the page break in Ribbon Versions displays differently in .docx format documents than it does in .doc format documents when in draft view. It is approximately 3 inches (7 cm) long in .docx documents rather than across width of the page as it is in .doc documents. I see this in Word 2007-2013. I don’t know why this is and know of no way to change it.

If you are not seeing the dashed line before the paragraph mark, it may have to do with your display settings. These are computer settings rather than Word settings.

Also, when a manual page break or a section break is at the end of a line of text, it may be occluded by the text. (I have noticed this in Print view, haven’t checked it in Draft view.)

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Thanks for your tips. I already have the Paragraph mark checked in Word Options. If you click on the icon as Rick suggested, that displays ALL of the formatting marks, not just the Paragraph mark. So that is no good to me. And I just tried this on two different Win 7 computers, Charles, so I don’t think it has anything to do with my display or computer settings.

But in experimenting, I did find this. First go to Word Options and check only the Paragraph marks in Display->’Always show these formatting marks on the screen’. Now do a Ctrl+Enter at some location on a .docx document. This should display only the paragraph mark about 20 spaces in from the left margin, as I said in the first post. The cursor should now be at the start of the new paragraph. Hit the Backspace key. Presto, the dotted line appears across the page, with the words “Page Break’ in the center.

Very strange. Any thought as to why .docx works this way?

Harry

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It looks like the dotted line extends the width of the page when it does not end with a paragraph mark. Otherwise (paragraph mark not deleted by backspacing over it), the line goes only part way across the page. In the first case, the page break is within the paragraph. In the second case, the page break *is* the paragraph. A line break (Shift-Enter) will also extend the dotted line across the page.

You can write a small bit of VBA code to test:

MsgBox ActiveDocument.Paragraphs.Count

If you are just testing in a document with no other content, you’ll get a count of 1 paragraph if you have deleted the paragraph mark by backspacing over it. Otherwise the count will be 2.

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It looks like the dotted line extends the width of the page when it does not end with a paragraph mark. Otherwise (paragraph mark not deleted by backspacing over it), the line goes only part way across the page. In the first case, the page break is within the paragraph. In the second case, the page break *is* the paragraph. A line break (Shift-Enter) will also extend the dotted line across the page

I don’t know anything about VBA code, so I would need some direction.

I don’t get the same results you do. I never see the partial line you describe. I ran three tests:
1. I placed the cursor in the middle of a sentence, and then hit Ctrl+Enter.
2. I placed the cursor after a period (end of sentence) and then hit Ctrl+Enter.
3. I hit Enter to create a new paragraph, placed the cursor at the beginning of the new paragraph, and hit Ctrl+Enter.

In all cases, when I press the Backspace key, I get the line all the way across the page with ‘Page Break’ in the middle. I then did a Print Preview on each of the three, and the Page Break is exactly where I placed it, and there are no characters or spaces missing from the document.

Harry

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Nope.

Especially when in Draft view, I simply display all hidden formatting. However, if I display just paragraph marks, I get the behavior you describe. If I display paragraph marks and spaces I see the page break.

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Charles:

That is exactly what I get. For me the space marks are confusing, so I don’t use them.

Harry

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