Formatting problems again

[yadnom1973]

I use a lot of copy and paste, I always try to use the Ctrl+Shift+V to be sure to not bring the formatting into my documents but it’s slow and a fiddle and sometimes I forget. I have a document now with these grey blocks in it in some places and cant get rid of them. I’ve asked a few question before about this problem and was told they are non-breaking spaces. The only thing under the Format menu is the Clear Direct Formatting but this dose nothing. I tried copying the whole block of text and pasting with Ctrl+Alt+Shift+V, this is kind of ridiculous and anyhow this also dose not remove them. What to do? How can I change this to just a normal block of text, a plane doc without the grey blocks or any other strange stuff, just a normal word doc for me to write stuff in.

I actually solved this by pasting the whole thing back into an email. then copying it from the email and Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Past back into a new document and it got rid of the grey blocks. Emergency averted but I cant practically continue working like this. I need a normal way to clear All the formatting from my word documents.

[ajlittoz]

The right question is: how did you end with non-breaking space in your original stuff? NB-space can be entered with Ctrl+Shift+Space under Linux, but other combinations are possible under Windows.

[yadnom1973]

I don’t know. I’ve never seen then before and I don’t really know what they are. When I copy and paste from anywhere on line if I don’t use Ctrl+V and Shift they are normally there, that’s the only way I’m aware of ending up with then in my document. I’m certainly not putting them in there with the key board, that I would notice.

[ajlittoz]

Non-breaking spaces are used when you don’t want adjacent words to be pulled apart on two lines. NBS don’t count as separators justification-wise. They are a way to tune or give exception to line wrap, but don’t abuse them: consider they have a semantic significance and can’t be freely interchanged with standard spaces.

[gabix]

Non-breaking spaces have nothing to do with formatting, they are just characters like any other ones. That is why you cannot remove them with Clear Direct Formatting or any similar feature (which you have already learned), and that is why tagging the question with a clear-formatting tag is pointless. Instead, use the conventional search and replace routine: a non-breaking space into the Find field, a conventional space in the Replace field, and replace all. That’s it.

[yadnom1973]

I see, I just presumed as Crtl+Shift+V was the only way I knew to avoid them that they were something to do with formatting. Thanks for the help.