Little square characters in front of lines

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John Gray
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Little square characters in front of lines

Post by John Gray »

Very occasionally, when using Word over the last n years, I have found small square characters* placed before the left margin at the front of lines followed by a very little white space. These look like bullet points, but aren't.
a) what are they called, and why/how do they appear?
b) how can they be removed?
Thanks!

* They look like "black small square" Unicode character code 25AA
but of course selection causes inversing!

Black small square.jpg
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John Gray

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HansV
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Re: Little square characters in front of lines

Post by HansV »

These tiny squares are displayed in the following situation:
  • You display non-printing characters (the Show/Hide button ¶ in the Paragraph group of the Home tab of the ribbon is highlighted), AND
  • At least one of the following check boxes has been ticked in the Line and Page Breaks tab of the Paragraph dialog:
    • Keep with next
    • Keep lines together
    • Page break before
S1492.png
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Best wishes,
Hans

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John Gray
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Re: Little square characters in front of lines

Post by John Gray »

As expected, you are entirely correct!
But what are they called, and do they serve any useful purpose?
John Gray

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HansV
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Re: Little square characters in front of lines

Post by HansV »

These squares don't seem to have a name. Their purpose is to alert you to the fact that the pagination settings of the paragraph have been altered.
Best wishes,
Hans

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John Gray
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Re: Little square characters in front of lines

Post by John Gray »

OK, thanks, Hans! I thought of that reason overnight, since it's kind of obvious!
If something doesn't have a name, it's extremely difficult to search for...
John Gray

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Leif
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Re: Little square characters in front of lines

Post by Leif »

You may find some enlightenment here: Nonprinting Formatting Marks - but on the other hand, you may not!
Leif

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John Gray
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Re: Little square characters in front of lines

Post by John Gray »

Thanks - some enlightenment duly obtained!
John Gray

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Charles Kenyon
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Re: Little square characters in front of lines

Post by Charles Kenyon »

The purpose is to help those who know what they are spot formatting quirks in the document.
See also: https://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/b ... evealCodes