Line Won't Go Away in Microsoft Word

LoveIsUnity

Hey everybody. I'm having a hell of a time removing a line in Microsoft Word. I created a line by using a series of dashes and then auto-formatting it by hitting enter. I cannot, however, delete it. I've tried highlighting it and hitting delete. I've tried cutting and pasting the text into a new document, but the line always copies with it (even when I haven't selected the line). I've tried cutting the line itself, but none of these have managed to get rid of it. I've looked at the font/paragraph formatting options, but nothing there seems to help. The program that provides help for Word hasn't given me any answers either. I can create new lines in the same document that delete fine, but there are a few other lines that simply won't go away. Thanks in advance. I'm sure someone here has experienced a similar problem.

Brodo Faggins

Copy paste the text you have around the lines into a new document, and quit the old one?

LoveIsUnity

As I mentioned in my post, I already tried that; it didn't work.

matthias00

cut the entire portion of the document that contains the line, paste it into notepad, then re-copy it from notepad to Word again.

LoveIsUnity

I should have mentioned in the OP that I tried this as well. Cutting the selection of text before and after the line (including the line) from Word moves the line to a paragraph above or below its original place in the document. In essence, it doesn't actually cut the line out, it just moves it to another location within the document.

blanknogo

Had this same problem before and could not solve it. Ended up copying a part of the text and then retyping the part near the line. Doesn't make any damn sense to me either and I hope someone has a better solution...

Edit: Should mention that I was having this problem on Office for Mac. So I guess it's a strange Word quirk...

Smasher

I don't know if the text of the document is sensitive information or anything, but is it possible to link a copy of it (or the relevant part thereof) here? This problem piques my curiosity, and if you can post it someone may be able to figure out the solution by experimentation.

In any case, my first hunch is that this line is actually a section break of some kind. See if there's an option to remove it in the appropriate menu.

Nibble

Highlight the line and find the button up top that lets you change the border lines in a table, and select "no border":

LoveIsUnity

Thank you so much. Nibble's explanation was spot on. For future reference, I had to select the entire document in order to make this work. I tried highlighting the section surrounding the line, and it moved the line up a paragraph. Selecting the entire document, however, removed all of my lines. Thank you so much Nibble. I promise to create a "Thank You" section of my dissertation just for you.

Zeon

Alternatively, if you dont want your formatting all fucked up (Because technically the text ontop of that rule is set as a boxhead), you can select the text above and below that rule (line) and go to format -> table to text.