[Model101]

Some Technical Specs (more available upon request):
Microsoft XP Professional, v2002, SP2
Microsoft Office 2007: Word 2007


I have found two very frustrating problems when I revise documents that other people have created.

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PROBLEM 1: Invisible, delete-proof fields.

I highlight and delete all the text in a document. Then I highlight the first line and right-click. However, the menu doesn't list "Font, Paragraph, Bullets, Numbering" like it should normally. Instead, it lists "Update Field, Edit Field, Toggle Field Codes" like someone had put in a field into the document body, and that field didn't get deleted with the rest of the text.

And if I add a blank page, or type text, or add spaces, etc. the invisible field still won't go away. With a new page, it moves to the new page and now the first page is normal, but if I delete that new page, it goes back to being on the first page. If I add text, the first word of the new text is now the field, and the rest of the text is normal, but deleting that field text will just move the field to the NEXT first word. I can't think of anything else to try.

Why won't the field delete with the rest of the document body? How can I get rid of it??

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PROBLEM 2: Invisible tables.

As with problem 1, this occurs in documents other people have created. As I move my cursor along the body using the left and right arrows, sometimes my cursor vanishes at the end of a line of text. It does not continue down to the next line as expected.

Instead, if I look up at the horizontal ruler below the ribbon, I can see it has changed from how it looks in a document to how it looks in a table! Somehow, there is a table squeezed into my document, but it's invisible! I can TAB through the columns and move down the rows, and eventually, my cursor will re-appear on that next line down that it should have gone to right after the last line of text.

I have found I can get rid of this "invisible table" by TAB-ing to each column, going to the ribbon, then deleting the column I'm currently in. I repeat this until all the columns (and thus the table) are gone, then there is no more invisible table. Also strangely, I can't just use the "delete table" function. It doesn't work!

How do these invisible tables get in there?? Is there a better way of getting rid of them???

[Anne Troy]

While I'd have to see the document to be sure, I can suggest a few things:

1. Click where you believe the table to be, and hit select table. Then delete. Or select above and below the table area and hit delete.

2. Turn on viewing of field codes colored gray ALWAYS. That way you'll be able to see where this field starts and ends.

3. View the field codes directly by hitting Alt+F9 to turn it one/off.

If you still have problems, I'm happy to look at the doc.