Words disappearing (Word 2007)

Death Wizard · Nov 29, 2008

During the latest revision of my novel, sentences and even entire paragraphs or more are disappearing and reappearing as I scroll between pages. This only happens in print format, not normal format. Anyone run into this? Is this a frequent problem?

(I'm using Word 2007 on a Dell laptop with Vista.

scarletpeaches · Nov 29, 2008

Print is the default view setting isn't it?

It's not a problem I've run into (and I'm using the same software and OS as you) but I wonder if it's got anything to do with the zoom percentage you use. Mine's at 100%; are you using 'page width'?

Sorry I can't be more help. I hope you're not actually losing work and the paragraphs reappear as easily as they go AWOL!

Death Wizard · Nov 29, 2008

scarletpeaches said:
Print is the default view setting isn't it?

It's not a problem I've run into (and I'm using the same software and OS as you) but I wonder if it's got anything to do with the zoom percentage you use. Mine's at 100%; are you using 'page width'?

Sorry I can't be more help. I hope you're not actually losing work and the paragraphs reappear as easily as they go AWOL!

Hmmm. Interesting. I've been editing at 75%. Let me try 100% and see what happens.

And the words don't seem to disappear for good, but I'm worried that they might once they're sent to the publisher.

Death Wizard · Nov 29, 2008

Darn. It's still doing it at 100%. Seems to be tied to the column breaks I use between chapters.

Clair Dickson · Nov 29, 2008

The column breaks may be shifting as the text is moved. Word tends to try to re-readjust things when something "changes."

You could try inserting column breaks at the bottom of the left column(s).

I don't think it's eating the text, so much as just moving it around. (I could be wrong, though. =)

My other guess is that you don't have enough RAM or processor speed for the needs of the doc and as you scroll, the computer isn't able to keep up.

scarletpeaches · Nov 29, 2008

Weird. Every time I chapter break I hold ALT-I-B, press enter and I've never had any problems. Always type at 100% too.

But I've noticed if my cursor flashes on one page and I use the mousepad buttons to scroll up or down, sometimes the pages 'sticks' and doesn't want to scroll. I have to click the cursor again to get it to move but that's the only hiccup I've had with '07 so far, touch wood.

ETA: Ah, of course. Column breaks are different to page breaks. That probably explains it; I've only ever written with one 'column' of text.

Death Wizard · Nov 29, 2008

Clair Dickson said:
The column breaks may be shifting as the text is moved. Word tends to try to re-readjust things when something "changes."

You could try inserting column breaks at the bottom of the left column(s).

I don't think it's eating the text, so much as just moving it around. (I could be wrong, though. =)

My other guess is that you don't have enough RAM or processor speed for the needs of the doc and as you scroll, the computer isn't able to keep up.

You're right, it has something to do with the column breaks I use: control/shift/enter. It's mucking everything up. But it's only started happening 10 revisions into it. It's kind of scary. When I printed out pages 235 and 236 to see if the missing words would appear on the paper, page 236 came out with the text from 234.

Death Wizard · Nov 29, 2008

scarletpeaches said:
Weird. Every time I chapter break I hold ALT-I-B, press enter and I've never had any problems. Always type at 100% too.

But I've noticed if my cursor flashes on one page and I use the mousepad buttons to scroll up or down, sometimes the pages 'sticks' and doesn't want to scroll. I have to click the cursor again to get it to move but that's the only hiccup I've had with '07 so far, touch wood.

ETA: Ah, of course. Column breaks are different to page breaks. That probably explains it; I've only ever written with one 'column' of text.

I've always used control/shift/enter. I've never had problems with it before, but maybe that's the problem now.

scarletpeaches · Nov 29, 2008

I never even knew you could do that. Well, you learn something new every day!

Death Wizard · Nov 29, 2008

scarletpeaches said:
I never even knew you could do that. Well, you learn something new every day!

From the problems I'm having, sounds like you'd be better off not learning this one!

Anyway, thanks for your help!

Clair Dickson · Nov 29, 2008

Are you putting a hard page break at the end of each page to keep the words from wandering?

Hope one of these subjugates Word for you.

Word does love to be "helpful"... oh well. Just a stupid program doing what it thinks it was programmed to do. =)

Death Wizard · Nov 29, 2008

Clair Dickson said:
Are you putting a hard page break at the end of each page to keep the words from wandering?

Hope one of these subjugates Word for you.

Word does love to be "helpful"... oh well. Just a stupid program doing what it thinks it was programmed to do. =)

No, the only thing I've done is put a control/shift/enter (end column) at the end of each chapter. What's a hard page break?

Clair Dickson · Nov 29, 2008

Go to Insert--> Page Break (Word2k3 says that the keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+Enter). This puts a hard break at the point of the cursor and stops the text from moving past that point (unless you add text, then it will push the page break to the end of that page.)

It's like putting in a column break (rather than letting the text wrap from one column to the next), put applies to the page.

Death Wizard · Nov 29, 2008

Clair Dickson said:
Go to Insert--> Page Break (Word2k3 says that the keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+Enter). This puts a hard break at the point of the cursor and stops the text from moving past that point (unless you add text, then it will push the page break to the end of that page.)

It's like putting in a column break (rather than letting the text wrap from one column to the next), put applies to the page.

That is what I've been doing, but only between chapters, not every page. You think I should do between every page?

Williebee · Nov 29, 2008

Let me clarify something here:

By "disappear" you mean they aren't appearing on the screen, and then, at some point you go back to the page and they are back there?

If so:
Zoom it out to view the full page, and click through, page by page (instead of scrolling). Give it about a 5 second count between clicks.

I'm thinking your video isn't keeping up. (would indicate that you are running short on RAM or Video Memory at the moment.)

Might be able to adjust the amount of memory reserved for video.

Death Wizard · Nov 29, 2008

Williebee said:
Let me clarify something here:

By "disappear" you mean they aren't appearing on the screen, and then, at some point you go back to the page and they are back there?

If so:
Zoom it out to view the full page, and click through, page by page (instead of scrolling). Give it about a 5 second count between clicks.

I'm thinking your video isn't keeping up. (would indicate that you are running short on RAM or Video Memory at the moment.)

Might be able to adjust the amount of memory reserved for video.

Yes, as you described above. I have 2 G's of Ram, so I would think that wouldn't be the problem. I'll try adjusting the amount of memory for video. Thanks!

Death Wizard · Nov 29, 2008

I did a memory diagnostic check, and everything came out clean. I don't know how to adjust the video memory.

RJK · Dec 2, 2008

Try doing a Ctrl+Alt+Del and look at your processes. See what's eating up your RAM. You may have some spyware or malware on your PC that's using up all your processing power.

If that's the case, you'll need to install a good anti-spyware program, there are several out there but watch out, some of them install their own spyware while they clean out the others.

Ms Hollands · Dec 2, 2008

deathwizard said:
I did a memory diagnostic check, and everything came out clean. I don't know how to adjust the video memory.

How you adjust it depend on which graphics drivers you have, but I doubt it's something you need to adjust, as it sounds like something is hogging your memory and your computer is having problems redrawing the info on your screen. Sometimes a program leaks memory (so even when you close it, you never get the memory back), and other applications have to struggle along on less. Do you leave your computer on for long periods of time before rebooting?

I know it's age-old advice, but try re-starting if you haven't for a while.

You could also try opening a new document in MS word and typing a few pages to see if you have any problems with a very short document if the problem persists after the restart. This could help pinpoint the problem.

I also second everything RJK suggested there.

Good luck with it.

Tirjasdyn · Dec 2, 2008

Try breaking up your document.

Word has never been good with documents above 100 pages. I've had problems with earlier revisions doing the same thing with large documents. I've never found a fix.

RJK · Dec 2, 2008

My current WIP is 305 pages long. Right now I'm running Word, Explorer, OneNote, Outlook and Excel. I have no problems with any of them.

I also have Symantec Antivirus running and Spybot Anti spyware running. I normally work in a Windows 'Limited' account (as apposed to an Administrator account). That prevents almost everything from getting through and messing up my PC. You would not believe (or perhaps you would) the problems I had before I learned to be careful about exposing my computer to the big bad world.

Lots of people blame their software for problems (they did exist several revisions back) when it's their corrupted computer that's the problem.

Tirjasdyn · Dec 2, 2008

:

: it's been a known issue in word for awhile. At least through 2003. The problem he's describing in the next version (2007) seems to be the same problem.

It may have to do with what he has open or it may not. MS is notorious for not fixing bugs ever. The MS Access exit control eat all my data bug is one. A known bug they've never fixed.

I generally run a lot of stuff at once. But the first rule in figuring out a problem is to eliminate all possibles. Closing down other programs could help...and really doesn't hurt.

Either way the problem is one that has plagued word since windows 3.1. Do a google search on word eating text and your heart will sink.

I've had word work beautifully one 500 page legal documents and eat parts of 200 page presentations. Both with no other programs and processes running and with more programs than you can shake a finger at.

Known problem. Not surprised to see it pop up in the latest version of Word.

Word...including Word 97, 2000, 2003 and 2007 don't always save when you hit save. If your harddrive is at rest for any reason...even for a second and you hit save...there is a possibility that word didn't save your work. again a know problem. I had one poor NaNoWriMo loose several thousand words this way a few weeks ago. She was using 2007.

Make sure you have the most current office service packs installed. As well as the most current windows ones. MS likes to release fixes in random places sometimes. Make sure before you install service packs that your computer can handle them. This is not always the case.

Worst case senario your os is corrupted. But this worst case and 90% of the time reinstalling the os is not the way to go. Can't stress that enough.

Event more Worst Case is your hardware is screwed in some way. Memory (ram) does die and does all kinds of wonky things.

If you plan to reinsall word...uninstall it first...completely and only thing reinstall.

But either way: Word eating chunks of large documents...long glorious unfixed history. Save multiple copies, break up a document.

And frankly almost no two PC's are setup alike. Having a lot of open programs isn't ever going to work just fine for everyone. Though I agree it should.

RJK said:
My current WIP is 305 pages long. Right now I'm running Word, Explorer, OneNote, Outlook and Excel. I have no problems with any of them.

I also have Symantec Antivirus running and Spybot Anti spyware running. I normally work in a Windows 'Limited' account (as apposed to an Administrator account). That prevents almost everything from getting through and messing up my PC. You would not believe (or perhaps you would) the problems I had before I learned to be careful about exposing my computer to the big bad world.

Lots of people blame their software for problems (they did exist several revisions back) when it's their corrupted computer that's the problem.

Death Wizard · Dec 2, 2008

Thank you for all of your replies. Maestro suggested that I try disabling the widow/orphan function, and by gawd it seems to have worked.

Williebee · Dec 2, 2008

Yeah, RAY!

Glad to hear it. widow/orphans. hmm. Have to log that, thanks.

RJK · Dec 4, 2008

Please don't get me wrong. I've had my share of problems with MS Word in the past. Usually it was with mid-sized documents containing graphics and tables. Word does seem to have problems remembering what to do with these things.

My point was, that it is just as likely that individuals are likely to buy a new PC, turn it on and go straight to the web, totally unprotected.

I have a neighbor (I don't know which one) who has a wireless network. Whenever I log on with one of my notebooks, it finds their unprotected wireless network.

I can't count the number of times I've had to clean up my nephews' and nieces' computers because they insist on running them as administrators. They have more spyware on their PC's than legitimate software. and, of course, being teenagers, they know better than I do about how to surf the net.

Sorry for the rant.

Words disappearing (Word 2007)

Tumhe na koci puujetha

Tumhe na koci puujetha

Tumhe na koci puujetha

A dark core to every cloud

Tumhe na koci puujetha

Tumhe na koci puujetha

Tumhe na koci puujetha

A dark core to every cloud

Tumhe na koci puujetha

A dark core to every cloud

Tumhe na koci puujetha

Capeless, wingless, & yet I fly.

Tumhe na koci puujetha

Tumhe na koci puujetha

Sheriff Bullwinkle the Poet says:

Cow lover

Outline Maven

Sheriff Bullwinkle the Poet says:

Outline Maven

Tumhe na koci puujetha

Capeless, wingless, & yet I fly.

Sheriff Bullwinkle the Poet says: