How do I post correctly?

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Cindyh2k

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I posted a poem in the poetry section - and the lines all ran together, rather than the poem having separate lines as it should. I tried to post my new children's story for critique, but it all ran together. How do I make my posts so the the format is the way it should be?

Thanks.

Cindy
 

J. Weiland

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Clip and paste the text from your original Word , or other word processor, document into the message window here. After that is done, read through the text and see if it stands as you would like it. If it doesn't, move the text around so it's as you would like it.

Hopes this helps.
 
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Cindyh2k

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That is what I did - I copied and pasted from Word and everything looked fine until I hit the submit button - and then everything just appears as one long paragraph.

Cindy
 

J. Weiland

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Could someone with more expertise on posting in 'SYW' please help Cindy?

If someone has already helped her via a personal message, I salute you. :D
 

Cathy C

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Sure thing, Cindy. Unfortunately, .doc commands (what Word creates) don't automatically translate over to HTML (what this vBulletin creates.) You have two options to get it to work properly, but both are a bit of a pain. You can:

1) Cut and paste into the window and then use the cursor to go to the first letter of every new paragraph, backspace to remove the .doc hard return, and substitute it with an HTML return (just hitting your Enter/Return key to reinsert the line will do it automatically); or

2) Use Word's Find and Replace function to remove each hard return and replace it with <p> (the HTML paragraph command.) Up through Word 2005 (and possibly beyond, but that's what I've got) here's how you search for paragraph codes:

a. Click on "Edit"
b. Click on "Find"
c. If it's a short box, look for the word "More" and click it.
d. If it's already a long box (you'll see a list of "Search Options" if it's long), or after you do step c., click on "Special"
e. Select "Paragraph Mark". You'll see a ^p appear in the Find box.
f. Look for the top tab marked "Replace" and click on it.
g. Enter <p> in the replace box.
h. Click "Replace All"

Once that's accomplished, it'll appear weird in Word, but when you move it over here and paste it in the window, it'll show up just fine when you Submit Reply.

Hope that helps! :)
 
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Maryn

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Hi, Cindy.

Cathy's instructions will work just fine, replacing all the paragraph marks with a 'tag' that will produce a blank line instead. If you find it too confusing, you can go through your Word document by hand, adding a blank line between every paragraph, then using "Save As" from the File menu to indicate what it is (i.e., if your story with tabs and no extra spaces is Ghost Story, name this one something line Ghost Story-AW).

Text takes very little computer space, so having multiple versions of your story is fine--just make sure you edit only one if you decide to make changes!

Nice to have you join us, BTW.

Maryn, shaking your hand
 

Cindyh2k

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Thanks guys - I will have to work on this - just the letters html scare the bejeebies out of me!

But, as my signature states - failure is not in my vocabulary - so, I WILL figure this thing out!!

Thanks for all of your help - and it is great to meet you all!

Cindy
 

Writer2011

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Good luck Cindy... I'm sure you will figure it out.. and it's nice to meet you as well.
 

Fahim

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Cindy, rather than replacing with HTML tags, one thing you might want to try first is this. Simply copy the entire contents of your story from the Word document and paste it into Notepad. Does everything look OK? Then select all the text in Notepad (you can use CTRL+A or use the menu command) and then copy the text again. Now post it into the message box at AW. Does the text come out correctly now? Or is it still mangled?
 

Cindyh2k

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Thanks everyone! Fahim, I got it to work by using your method!! It is now posted in the children's section of SYW - thanks a lot!!

Cindy
 

Maryn

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And that, my friends, is why Fahim rocks!

Maryn, who kind of rolls
 

Bartholomew

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That is what I did - I copied and pasted from Word and everything looked fine until I hit the submit button - and then everything just appears as one long paragraph.

Cindy

The Easy Way:

Copy all of your text.

Paste it into NOTEPAD (Not Wordpad)

This removes all formatting.

Copy it again, this time out of Notepad,

And it should paste correctly into here.
 
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