Find and Replace the symbol ¬

oldbwl · 12-28-2010, 02:14 AM

I have a bunch of old RTF files which I am gradually converting to epub,

I do most of the pre-formatting of the RTF's in Word 2010 with a whole bunch of macros and a few other manipulations by hand, I am generally very happy with my result when I finally use Calibre to convert to epub and mobi.

However, there is one symbol which is bugging me big time it is ¬

Word simply does not see it in the find and replace. I can't find anything sensible about this symbol on the web. Currently I use Notepad to find and replace it. But anyone have an idea how to get MS Word to recognise and remove it?

DMSmillie · 12-28-2010, 12:52 PM

These are optional hyphens. They mark where a word should break and be hyphenated if it lands at the end of a line of text. To remove them in Word, click on "Replace", then in the "Find What" box, then either simply type "^-" or click on "More>>>" then "Special" and select "Optional Hyphen". Make sure the "Replace with" box is empty, and click on "Replace All", and it'll get rid of all those optional hyphens.

oldbwl · 12-30-2010, 03:10 AM

I was aware of this setting and had tried it. I did it again just now, on two seperate versions of Word 2010 on 2 PC's and it will not see them., As a test I just copied the above message and pasted it in to Word did exactly as you said, both the manually typed ^- and the selection optional hyphen totally ignored the item in the text and returned a 0 item found result.

DMSmillie · 12-30-2010, 06:30 AM

Hmmm... very strange! Could you create a small sample Word doc containing a sentence or two which include this symbol and attach it to a post here? I'd be happy to take a look and see if I can figure out what's happening. I'm intrigued...

(If you do, could you save it as a Word 2007 doc please? That's the version of Word I have).

oldbwl · 12-30-2010, 07:48 AM

Ha!, you solved the problem for me without even realising. I checked and reset the comptibility settings and hey presto the problem has gone.

Thanks

DMSmillie · 12-30-2010, 07:52 AM

lol! Glad you got it sorted, oldbwl.

12-28-2010, 02:14 AM	#1
oldbwl Zealot Posts: 122 Karma: 164 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Old Ynysybwl Device: Sony PRS-300	Find and Replace the symbol ¬ I have a bunch of old RTF files which I am gradually converting to epub, I do most of the pre-formatting of the RTF's in Word 2010 with a whole bunch of macros and a few other manipulations by hand, I am generally very happy with my result when I finally use Calibre to convert to epub and mobi. However, there is one symbol which is bugging me big time it is ¬ Word simply does not see it in the find and replace. I can't find anything sensible about this symbol on the web. Currently I use Notepad to find and replace it. But anyone have an idea how to get MS Word to recognise and remove it?

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12-28-2010, 12:52 PM	#2
DMSmillie Enquiring Mind Posts: 562 Karma: 42350 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: London, UK Device: Kindle 3 (WiFi)	These are optional hyphens. They mark where a word should break and be hyphenated if it lands at the end of a line of text. To remove them in Word, click on "Replace", then in the "Find What" box, then either simply type "^-" or click on "More>>>" then "Special" and select "Optional Hyphen". Make sure the "Replace with" box is empty, and click on "Replace All", and it'll get rid of all those optional hyphens.

12-30-2010, 03:10 AM	#3
oldbwl Zealot Posts: 122 Karma: 164 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Old Ynysybwl Device: Sony PRS-300	I was aware of this setting and had tried it. I did it again just now, on two seperate versions of Word 2010 on 2 PC's and it will not see them., As a test I just copied the above message and pasted it in to Word did exactly as you said, both the manually typed ^- and the selection optional hyphen totally ignored the item in the text and returned a 0 item found result.

12-30-2010, 06:30 AM	#4
DMSmillie Enquiring Mind Posts: 562 Karma: 42350 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: London, UK Device: Kindle 3 (WiFi)	Hmmm... very strange! Could you create a small sample Word doc containing a sentence or two which include this symbol and attach it to a post here? I'd be happy to take a look and see if I can figure out what's happening. I'm intrigued... (If you do, could you save it as a Word 2007 doc please? That's the version of Word I have).

12-30-2010, 07:48 AM	#5
oldbwl Zealot Posts: 122 Karma: 164 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Old Ynysybwl Device: Sony PRS-300	Ha!, you solved the problem for me without even realising. I checked and reset the comptibility settings and hey presto the problem has gone. Thanks

12-30-2010, 07:52 AM	#6
DMSmillie Enquiring Mind Posts: 562 Karma: 42350 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: London, UK Device: Kindle 3 (WiFi)	lol! Glad you got it sorted, oldbwl.

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