The dots indicate that a content control is present. You can get rid of the control by saving the document in the older *.doc format and then save back to *.docx.

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Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional

Thanks very much Stefan.

There is no (obvious) indicator as to what it is, so you don't even know where to begin searching.

Seems like an option is needed under the controls section for "Unwrap content" or some such rather than the to do the double save.

I'm guessing that when going from .docx to .doc there is the possibility that there might be some other formatting that could be lost.

But for my situation your solution without doubt fixed my problem.

Yes, saving in the Word 97–2003 (*.doc) format would get rid of all new features that have been introduced with the *.docx format. For example, the bibliography feature won't be supported, that is, references will be converted to plain text.

__________________
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP

Microsoft 365 apps for business
Windows 11 Professional