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Old 06-10-2017, 09:43 AM
cwword77 cwword77 is offline Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Windows 10 Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Office XP
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Default Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND

Here is a puzzler about a weird character being placed in a Word document after using the FIND option. It can really mess up your document if you don't catch it and delete it.




Using the XP version of Word, if I copy words from one Word document and go to another Word document and paste those words into the FIND box, Word drops a weird character (shaped like a tiny taller-than-wide box) at the current cursor position.



-- I pasted in the weird character below this line (but it didn't show up here)

---> <---
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Old 06-10-2017, 01:39 PM
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You can take a screen shot and upload the image file here. To see the options that let you upload attachments, you will have to click the Go Advanced button at the bottom of the forums page.
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Last edited by Stefan Blom; 06-10-2017 at 04:20 PM.
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Old 06-10-2017, 03:03 PM
cwword77 cwword77 is offline Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Windows 10 Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Office XP
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Default Re: Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND

Screen shot attached.
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File Type: jpg screen shot of weird character in word.jpg (20.5 KB, 25 views)
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Old 06-11-2017, 06:30 AM
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Stefan Blom Stefan Blom is offline Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Windows 10 Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Office 2013
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A box could be any character that the current font can't interpret.

Most likely, though, this is some character that the fields in the Find and Replace dialog box can't deal with properly.

If you select the mysterious character in a Word document and press Alt+X, you should see the Unicode character code.
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Old 06-11-2017, 09:25 AM
cwword77 cwword77 is offline Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Windows 10 Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Office XP
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I just copied the word "the" from your reply and created a new blank Word document. Then I selected FIND and pasted that word into the FIND box. As soon as I pasted the word into the FIND box (even before I tried to search for the word), the weird character got dropped at the cursor position. I selected ALL and pressed Alt+X. No effect.
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Old 06-11-2017, 10:30 AM
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Hmm, it's possible that the Alt+X "trick" is from a later version of Office, meaning that you can't use it in your version.

Can you share an example document in Word format where the strange character has been added? You can upload attachments to this forum if you first click the Go Advanced button at the bottom of the forums page.
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Old 06-11-2017, 11:00 AM
cwword77 cwword77 is offline Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Windows 10 Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Office XP
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Yes, I did that in my first reply to you. It's above: what looks like text is actually a screen shot from a text Word document beginning with the words "Using the XP version" and then the weird character is in parentheses. PS: I can't find the weird character in the Unicode chart, but in HTML it is created with $#9015;

Last edited by cwword77; 06-11-2017 at 02:13 PM.
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Old 06-11-2017, 03:08 PM
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Stefan Blom Stefan Blom is offline Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Windows 10 Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Office 2013
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This is a bit of a mystery... :-(

If you provide an example document in Word format, I can copy and paste the character myself. I can't do that from a picture.
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Old 06-11-2017, 03:31 PM
cwword77 cwword77 is offline Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Windows 10 Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Office XP
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Default Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND

Okay. Attached is a Word document with nothing in it but the weird character.
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Old 06-11-2017, 03:35 PM
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OK, I see the same that you see: nothing happens when using Alt+X. That suggests that the box simply represents a character that Word, or the current font, can't interpret.

Have you had any luck with a different font?
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Old 06-11-2017, 04:33 PM
cwword77 cwword77 is offline Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Windows 10 Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Office XP
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Font seems to be irrelevant. If I create a brand new document and set the font for the document to times or to courier or to arial, the weird character still appears at the cursor position as soon as I paste something into the FIND box (even before I actually carry out the FIND operation). That's why there was nothing in the attached Word document except the weird character in the upper left corner of the blank page.
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Old 06-13-2017, 12:18 PM
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Stefan Blom Stefan Blom is offline Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Windows 10 Weird character appearing in Word at cursor position after using FIND Office 2013
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Since I'm not running Office 2003 anymore, I can't tell if the issue can be reproduced.

A quick search in the Knowledge Base articles gives nothing, so I'm afraid I'm running out of ideas. :-(
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