I use MS Word's Horizontal Line accessed from the Home Tab, Paragraph Group, dropdown list of the Borders button to visually separate sections of my notes/documents. I've done it for years. Recently, I insert the line, the cursor is at the end of the line, I press ENTER to go to the next line and the horizontal line disappears. I've searched for an answer on the web and haven't found it. Does anyone here understand what I'm talking about? Thanks, Mike

There is a big difference in Word jargon between a line and a border.

Formatting (including borders) continues to the new paragraph when you press Enter at the end of a paragraph. By default in Word when two paragraphs have the same top or bottom borders, a border is not inserted between paragraphs. If you change the formatting of the new paragraph to not have a border, it should appear under the old paragraph.

Thanks Charles. Still not following you. I write for a living and when I write paragraphs under my headings, I use the "Body Text" style. I write a paragraph, hit Enter, write a paragraph, etc. All those paragraphs are Body Text because I use 'style for following paragraph' "Body Text."

OK. So in the past I when I wanted to quickly separate a paragraph by using a "horizontal line" I would type a paragraph hit enter, go to the home Tab, Paragraph group, borders drop-down list, "horizontal line" (I really used a shortcut on my QAT). A line would appear, I would press "enter" and start another paragraph. No problem.

Now I do that same sequence of keystrokes and when I press enter, the "horizontal line" that is there, disappears as my cursor goes to the next line.

Please attach a sample document.
How to attach a screenshot or file in this forum.

You are using a border. That border is part of the paragraph formatting directly applied (not through the style). That formatting continues into the new paragraph created when you press the Enter key.

OK Charles. I think I got it. It seems to be working. I understand even though it says "horizontal line," it's still a border and I must account for that. Thanks for your help. Have a nice weekend. Mike

Sorry. I had never used that feature. It is a line, a special kind of a graphic line. I assumed but didn't know what I was talking about.

When you insert it, it inserts a paragraph mark at the end of the line because it inserts it inline with text. I have always simply used a line inserted under the Insert tab. Thank you for teaching me something.
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I suspect that what was happening with your problem was that somehow you had the line selected when you pressed the Enter key. That would replace it with a paragraph mark rather than adding a paragraph at the end. If you suspect this is happening, if you press the End key before you hit Enter it should work.

For anyone looking at this, the Horizontal Line command inserts a line extending from about 1 cm from the left paragraph indent to 1cm from the right paragraph indent.