WD: Space Is Inserted or Lost When You Cut or Paste Text (118833)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Word for the Macintosh 6.0
  • Microsoft Word for the Macintosh 6.0.1
  • Microsoft Word for the Macintosh 6.0.1a
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0a
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0c
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 95
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 95 7.0a
  • Microsoft Word 97 for Windows
  • Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition
This article was previously published under Q118833

SYMPTOMS

The following behavior may occur in Word when you cut, delete, or paste text:

  • When you select Track Changes While Editing (Mark Revisions While Editing is Word 7.x and ealier) and you cut or delete a word, the space following the word is also marked as deleted text.
  • When you copy text that contains a period followed by two spaces, Word deletes the two spaces when you paste the text on a blank line in the document.
  • When you copy text that contains a period followed by two spaces, Word replaces the two spaces with one space when you paste the text between two other lines of text that each end in a period followed by two spaces.
  • When you cut or copy a field code and then paste the field code immediately before or after text, Word fails to insert a space between the text and the field code.
  • When you select a space or nonbreaking space that follows punctuation (such as a comma, period, question mark, or colon), Word fails to delete the space when you press DELETE or BACKSPACE or when you click Clear on the Edit menu. For example, if you select the space following "cats," in the following text and press DELETE, Word may not remove the space:

    cats, dogs and birds

CAUSE

This behavior occurs when you enable the "Use Smart Cut and Paste" option and you cut, delete, or paste text.

WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, use the following steps to disable the "Smart Cut and Paste" option:

  1. On the Tools menu, click Options (Preferences Word 98).
  2. Click the Edit tab.
  3. Clear the "Use Smart Cut and Paste" check box. Click OK.

MORE INFORMATION

"Smart Cut and Paste" removes extra spaces when you delete text and adds spaces when you insert text from the Clipboard.

Word 7.0

For more information, click Microsoft Word Topics on the Help menu, click the Index tab, and type smart in the text box.

Double-click the selected text to go to the "smart cut and paste" topic.

Word 6.0

For more information, click "Search for Help on" on the Help menu, click the Index tab, and type spacing in the text box.

Double-click the "spacing around deleted or inserted text" topic to go to the "automatically adjusting spacing around deleted or inserted text" topic.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/16/2005
Keywords:kbfield kbprb KB118833
©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.