ms word : how to fix auto-formatted lists ?

[zelda_pinwheel]

i've got a .doc file i want to convert to epub, but i've got a problem with ms word's infernal "auto format" functions.

in french, to indicate dialogue, you use an em dash at the beginning of the line. the problem is, when you have 2 emdashes in a row, word apparently thinks you are making a list and converts them into auto bullet point. when i copy and past the text into an html page in doesn't paste in as "new paragraph, em dash, space, text" but as "list, list item with a style of em dash, text". this is incredibly annoying, particularly since this book is about 90% dialogue. even worse is that although the book uses em dashes throughout, from time to time they are interpreted as *numbered* lists so instead of an emdash i have :

1. what an odd thing to do, said one character.
2. i know, it's really ridiculous, said the other character.

i've not found a way to get rid of the stupid list style without also losing the em dashes, which i want to keep. does anyone have an idea ?

to show what i mean i've made a sample document which i'm attaching here. the first line is a regular paragraph, with an em dash. the next lines are a list using an em dash for the list style.

any help is greatly appreciated !! ideally, i'd like some sort of search and replace solution where i can "replace all" and be done with it in one fell swoop. otherwise i'm going to have to edit every single line by hand and that is going to drive me crazy.

[soilwork]

I am not sure what is the version of your Word, but with Word 2003 version, you can do the following to prevent Word from making list automatically. With another version, you may be able to find a similar menu option.

1. From the menu, select 'Tools - Autocorrect Options'
2. Select 'Autoformat As You Type' tab
3. uncheck 'Automatic bulleted lists'

[zelda_pinwheel]

thanks ! that will help avoid lists in the future. but sadly, it did not fix the lists that are already in there. this is not my file ; someone gave me the word file, and i have to make an epub for them using their text, and they've got these bloody lists all through it.

i have word 2000 by the way, but i also have open office if there is a way using that...

[soilwork]

Ah, that is what you mean. Hmm, I have not figured out search & replace method, but I just tried the following and it seems to work.

First, convert the Word file into html using 'File - Save As - Save Type As: Web page'.
Second, open the html with web browser (e.g. Firefox) and copy and paste the content back to Word with the 'Automatic bulleted lists' option unchecked.

Actually, if you are interested in converting the document into epub, maybe you can skip the second step and directly convert html to epub. [Edit]. I am attaching epub document made by Word -> html -> epub (using any2epub).

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by soilwork

Ah, that is what you mean. Hmm, I have not figured out search & replace method, but I just tried the following and it seems to work.

First, convert the Word file into html.
Second, open the html with web browser (e.g. Firefox) and copy and paste the content back to Word with the 'Automatic bulleted lists' option unchecked.

Actually, if you are interested in converting the document into epub, maybe you can skip the second step and directly convert html to epub. [Edit]. I am attaching epub document made by Word -> html -> epub (using any2epub).

thank you ! that works ! still requires some cleanup but a LOT less than before !

i won't skip the second step though because word makes truly abominable code and i'd rather avoid using it as my source when possible.