Holy shit!!! Where were you twenty years ago, before I began wasting what must total up to several months worth of time now doing "Down arrow-End-Period-Space-Delete" 653,982,164,368 times?!? Youre an angel!!!
Yikes! 653,982,164,368 times?!? I'm thrilled that this video will help you save time in the future. Like this one, most of my videos are a result of a project I'm trying to solve or questions from my clients. Glad to be helpful!
@@thesoftwarepro Im feeling embarrassed that I didnt research this shortcut sooner, considering how many documents Ive done this to over the years. Im assuming you just take the time to look around and try things, but I get stuck in a rut and bang away. Good for you!
It can be challenging to even know what to search for when looking for an answer. I can sometimes be distracted by shiny objects especially when searching online 😉 I'm glad I could help!
Thanks so much for this. I couldn't find out anywhere how to remove soft returns that are indicated by the backwards arrow? Do you know how to remove them?
Word can find and replace a wide range of characters. The soft returns you're referring to are called manual line breaks which can be intentionally created with SHIFT+ENTER. Here are the steps to start a Find & Replace for manual line breaks: 1. CTRL+H for Replace 2. Click More 3. Choose Special 4. Pick Manual Line Break from the list to add to the Replace section. 5. Add the replace text or characters in the Find section. Good luck!
@@thesoftwarepro Thank you so much, Dawn and 'hellowho909'!!!! I'm doing a publishing project and you saved me a zillion hours with this information. thanks again!!!
I love your nice and ultra-clear tutorial. I just wanted to know if I've been doing it right for all these years, and it turns out that I am. Thank you.
Good video. One thing to point out here. Your text is well behaved as it contains full-stops. If the full stops are not there as in many TH-cam transcripts, then as far as I can see one has to go hard labour.
Some transcripts might require manual clean-up. However, if there are common characters you want to remove or replace, look for these in the Special section of the Find and Replace dialog box. 1. CTRL+H for Replace 2. Click More 3. Choose Special
Greetings, I appreciate this class. I am, however, unable to add the Advanced Find & Replace "box" that appears on your Home Screen toolbar ribbon. Please advise? I've been trying for 15 minutes. Thank you, Dawn.
First, make sure you're working with the Word desktop app. Word for the Web doesn't offer these expanded find and replace options. From the desktop app, you can also press CTRL+H to launch Replace. I hope this gets you the solution you need.
@@thesoftwarepro Thanks very much. When I spoke with the MS365 peeps they told me that this fab "toolbox" toolbar option is no longer available. I am a subscriber now. And I didn't realize that I was using "Word for Web." I thought I was using a desktop App.
Thanks for subscribing! The Word desktop app still includes the Editing group with Find and Replace. You can also use CTRL+H for Replace. The Replace dialog box also includes access to Special (click More) where you can find and replace special characters in a document. For another way, check out my video on the Word navigation pane th-cam.com/video/LiS2mnHF7Jg/w-d-xo.html. Starting at 2:44 you'll see how you can also do an Advanced Find.
When you only have a few extra hard returns, you can absolutely delete them manually with the backspace or delete. These steps are for those larger projects with lots of clean up.
Why not use edit and replace again to find all full stops (periods) and add a space after them, which will separate any blended words. This action may add two spaces, after full stops (periods), in some instances but you could then use edit and replace again to look for all double spaces after full stops (periods) and replace them with one full stop (period).
As with other Microsoft apps, there are often a number of ways to solve or format data. I've presented one solution using Find and Replace options, yet certainly not the only approach that will simplify cleaning up data from text files. You'll find other comments in this video with alternate solutions. Most important is to leverage built-in tools in Word versus manually deleting content you don't want, including extra hard returns or spaces.
@thesoftwarepro I taught all aspects of Microsoft Office in a local college, however, I'm the first to admit, there is always something to learn, and I love to watch videos from experts like yourself. Thank you for your TH-cam videos.
OMG! Cleaning up a newly-edited 380+ page book. Yes, I'll have to add the paragraphs back manually, but you saved my life on this one!
I'm thrilled that this was helpful! Good luck with the book!
Holy shit!!! Where were you twenty years ago, before I began wasting what must total up to several months worth of time now doing "Down arrow-End-Period-Space-Delete" 653,982,164,368 times?!? Youre an angel!!!
Yikes! 653,982,164,368 times?!? I'm thrilled that this video will help you save time in the future. Like this one, most of my videos are a result of a project I'm trying to solve or questions from my clients. Glad to be helpful!
@@thesoftwarepro Im feeling embarrassed that I didnt research this shortcut sooner, considering how many documents Ive done this to over the years. Im assuming you just take the time to look around and try things, but I get stuck in a rut and bang away. Good for you!
It can be challenging to even know what to search for when looking for an answer. I can sometimes be distracted by shiny objects especially when searching online 😉 I'm glad I could help!
@@thesoftwarepro 😂😂😂
You're a saint. I've been importing documents with a couple hundred thousand paragraph marks and the thought of doing that manually is nightmarish.
I'm thrilled that you have a time-saving solution for those imported documents!
bundle of thanks. I was facing this problem from last 4 years.
Oh, sooo much easier AND quicker! Thanks for your help!
Thanks so much for this. I couldn't find out anywhere how to remove soft returns that are indicated by the backwards arrow? Do you know how to remove them?
Word can find and replace a wide range of characters. The soft returns you're referring to are called manual line breaks which can be intentionally created with SHIFT+ENTER.
Here are the steps to start a Find & Replace for manual line breaks:
1. CTRL+H for Replace
2. Click More
3. Choose Special
4. Pick Manual Line Break from the list to add to the Replace section.
5. Add the replace text or characters in the Find section.
Good luck!
@@thesoftwarepro Thankyou - and thanks for these helpful instructional vids - much appreciated
@@thesoftwarepro Thank you so much, Dawn and 'hellowho909'!!!! I'm doing a publishing project and you saved me a zillion hours with this information. thanks again!!!
You totally rock and just saved me hours of manual work!!!
I can't tell you how happy this information has made me. Thank you so much!
You are so welcome!
I love your nice and ultra-clear tutorial. I just wanted to know if I've been doing it right for all these years, and it turns out that I am. Thank you.
Fantastic. Very helpful, thank you
Just a great presentation thank you
Nice tip...Thanks!
Good video. One thing to point out here. Your text is well behaved as it contains full-stops. If the full stops are not there as in many TH-cam transcripts, then as far as I can see one has to go hard labour.
Some transcripts might require manual clean-up. However, if there are common characters you want to remove or replace, look for these in the Special section of the Find and Replace dialog box.
1. CTRL+H for Replace
2. Click More
3. Choose Special
@@thesoftwarepro - Thank you very much for your prompt and accurate response, which is appreciated.
Excellent, great tutorial
Thank you! Cheers!
Thanks a lot! easy and super useful! :)
Thank you!!! Really appreciate this 🌹🏅
Greetings, I appreciate this class. I am, however, unable to add the Advanced Find & Replace "box" that appears on your Home Screen toolbar ribbon. Please advise? I've been trying for 15 minutes. Thank you, Dawn.
First, make sure you're working with the Word desktop app. Word for the Web doesn't offer these expanded find and replace options. From the desktop app, you can also press CTRL+H to launch Replace. I hope this gets you the solution you need.
@@thesoftwarepro Thanks very much. When I spoke with the MS365 peeps they told me that this fab "toolbox" toolbar option is no longer available. I am a subscriber now. And I didn't realize that I was using "Word for Web." I thought I was using a desktop App.
Thanks for subscribing!
The Word desktop app still includes the Editing group with Find and Replace. You can also use CTRL+H for Replace. The Replace dialog box also includes access to Special (click More) where you can find and replace special characters in a document.
For another way, check out my video on the Word navigation pane th-cam.com/video/LiS2mnHF7Jg/w-d-xo.html. Starting at 2:44 you'll see how you can also do an Advanced Find.
Thank you Dawn.
Thank you!
Thank you so much, you are appreciated.
So nice of you, Cheryl!
This brilliant! Thanks SO Much!
Glad it was helpful!
Yay for Dawn, you're the best.
Thank you so much!
excellent job
Thank you sir
Thank you
Thanks for the information. But, if I don't need to do a global edit why can't I simply delete the extra return with backspace?
When you only have a few extra hard returns, you can absolutely delete them manually with the backspace or delete. These steps are for those larger projects with lots of clean up.
Why not use edit and replace again to find all full stops (periods) and add a space after them, which will separate any blended words. This action may add two spaces, after full stops (periods), in some instances but you could then use edit and replace again to look for all double spaces after full stops (periods) and replace them with one full stop (period).
As with other Microsoft apps, there are often a number of ways to solve or format data. I've presented one solution using Find and Replace options, yet certainly not the only approach that will simplify cleaning up data from text files. You'll find other comments in this video with alternate solutions. Most important is to leverage built-in tools in Word versus manually deleting content you don't want, including extra hard returns or spaces.
@thesoftwarepro I taught all aspects of Microsoft Office in a local college, however, I'm the first to admit, there is always something to learn, and I love to watch videos from experts like yourself. Thank you for your TH-cam videos.
I ❤ u
too long
Thank you so much!