skelly said:
Word just wants to do too much for me. It drives me nuts. Formatting, mostly.
I repeat what you've heard already. You can turn it all off. Learn how and you'll be a happier person. Win-win, right?
Odd kinks in the program that move entire paragraphs to the right when I hit "tab."
Sounds to me like both the little triangles (which surely have names) in Word's toolbar have been moved to your Tab setting, probably 1/2 inch. Hit Ctrl-A (selecting the whole document as what's to be affected by the change you're about to make), then use your cursor to move 'em back, so the two triangles and the little box below them are all at the left edge, at zero. This is a common screw-up when the document has been imported to Word from an earlier version of Word, or from WordPerfect, Notepad, etc. It can also happen when someone who didn't read the manual attempts to set tabs. Could that be you, wink-wink?
The fact that I can be going along just fine, then for no reason it starts automatically tabbing for me when I hit return ... meaning that I have two tabs, because I automatically hit tab after return too. GAAA!
This is a product of the little triangle that points downward being moved to the tab setting, since that's what happens when you hit Enter. It's meant to be a convenience for the writer to not need to tab in, but since you're in the habit of doing this for yourself, it's an easy fix. Ctrl-A, then drag it to the left with the cursor.
The inexplicable way that it printed 23 lines on some pages, 24 lines on some pages, and 25 lines on some pages ... throughout a 180 page document.
You have widow and orphan protection turned on. This keeps single lines which are part of longer paragraphs from appearing alone on a page, forcing them to the next or previous page. Turn it off via Format/Paragraph/Line and Page Breaks.
The fact that, as a fantasy writer, there are times that Word simply WILL NOT allow me to spell a word the way I want to spell it.
First, I recommend turning off the Spell Check feature that inserts the wiggly line under words that Word does not find in its dictionary as you type. (Tools/Options/Spelling and Grammar, then uncheck the "Check spelling as you type" box.) Before you submit your document, run the normal spell check on it. When Word finds a word that's not in its dictionary, you can either add it or tell Word to ignore all the instances of this word.
We understand your frustration, but it sounds to me like a better understanding of Word would make your experience using it a whole lot better. But if you're happy with Jarte, so be it. Just be aware that some potential publishers may want to see your submission in Word.
Maryn, who'll try to answer Word questions if you have them
