# MS Word question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 19, 2000, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-question/10677 "2000-04-19T16:33:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-question/10677/1 "2000-04-19T16:33:00Z")
How do I keep a small bit of text together on one line? Federal Register cites, for example, should be kept all together on one line (not necessarily in general, but they do for the guidance documents I am working on). I can manually add a few spaces to knock the phrase down a line, but that can get messy if there are further changes to the document at a later time. What I’d like to do is highlight the text, click a checkbox on the format menu and be done with it. But I can’t find the checkbox, nor the menu with that option. Is there such a thing? Thanks, ## Rhythmdvl Once in a while you can get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right… ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2000, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-question/10677/2 "2000-04-20T05:03:00Z")
**Rhythmdvl** : I’m pretty sure I don’t follow you here. Do you mean that you want to maintain the integrity of a line of text so it’s not separated due to editing of the preceding material? IOW, blah blah blah blah 123 345 567 768 789 blah blah blah blah becomes blah blah blah _blah_ blah 123 345 567 768 8 879 blah blah blah blah In that case, separating the notation with carriage returns at the beginning and end will do the trick. If not, please let me know where I’m misinterpreting the problem. * * * stoli “There’s always a little dirt, or infinity, or something.” -Feynman ---
**Author:** ![Gilligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Gilligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gilligan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2000, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-question/10677/3 "2000-04-20T05:10:00Z")
You want to insert a non-breaking space between the words you want to keep together. You can do this with CTRL-SHIFT-SPACE, or with the Insert menu – Symbol – Special characters. ---
**Author:** ![JoeyBlades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@JoeyBlades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeyBlades)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2000, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-question/10677/4 "2000-04-20T05:14:00Z")
> [@](#): > > How do I keep a small bit of text together on one line? Easy-peasy. You want to insert a non breaking space instead of a regular space. You do this by typing Ctrl-Shift-Space. (i.e. hold down both the Ctrl and Shift keys while typing your space) ---
**Author:** ![JoeyBlades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@JoeyBlades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeyBlades)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2000, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-question/10677/5 "2000-04-20T05:15:00Z")
Damn. My firewall delay loses another one for me… ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2000, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-question/10677/6 "2000-04-20T05:27:00Z")
I use Word for Windows 95, version 7.0, which has a feature called “nonbreaking spaces,” which I’m pretty sure is what you want to use instead of regular spaces between the words of the citations. In my version of Word, the shortcut key is \. If that doesn’t work in your version, search the help index for “nonbreaking spaces”. Or click on Insert, then Symbol. A dialog box should come up called “special characters”. Note the shortcut key combination for nonbreaking spaces. * * * Work is the curse of the drinking classes. (Oscar Wilde) ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2000, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-question/10677/7 "2000-04-20T05:34:00Z")
Sorry about the confusion. Let me see if I can create an example here on the board. I’ll use line numbers on the left to denote actual lines in a Word document. 1 It has been decided that dumping toxic waste on a civilian’s yard 2 is to be frowned upon.\* (CFR citation goes here).\* Action should be taken with a…. 3 taken with a…. OK, that was good. But then someone (the document has to go to three or four different offices before it is released to the public) adds a bit of text to it 1 It has been decided that dumping toxic waste on a civilian’s yard, 2 **no matter how funny it may seem,** is to be frowned upon. _(CFR_ 3 _citation goes here)._ Action should be taken with a… This should be presented in the final document as 1 It has been decided that dumping toxic waste on a civilian’s yard, 2 no matter how funny it may seem, is to be frowned upon. 3 _(CFR citation goes here)._ Action should be taken with a… Note how the citation is now all on one line. This is typically done manually by adding spaces to move it down a line. Later, someone edits it further, changing it to 1 It has been decided that dumping toxic waste on a civilian’s yard, 2 no matter how funny it may seem **at the time** , is to be frowned 3 upon. _(CFR citation goes here)._ Action should be taken with a… Now there are extra spaces. The final version should read 1 It has been decided that dumping toxic waste on a civilian’s yard, 2 no matter how funny it may seem **at the time** , is to be frowned 3 upon. _(CFR citation goes here)._ Action should be taken with a… This is not really a problem to take care of individually, but some of these documents can run to forty or fifty pages with cites and web addresses and whatnot scattered throughout. Searching out phrases that have been broken up or have extra spaces takes is not problematic _per se_, but it does a lot of time. What I am hoping is possible is to highlight _(CFR citation goes here)_ and have Word keep track of it for me. Word does this with individual words with \*word-wrap[/I turned on, can it do it with marked phrases? Again, thanks for your help. Rhythmdvl ## Hoping this post looks like it should Once in a while you can get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right… ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2000, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-question/10677/8 "2000-04-20T05:44:00Z")
Ack, my feeble attempts at UBBing began to fall apart at the end. Sorry if it is difficult to read. Also sorry for posting so long after seeing **stolichnaya** ’s post. CTL-SHT-SPC works great, thanks! I can almost feel the ignorance washing away… * * * Once in a while you can get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right… ---
**Author:** ![stolichnaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bcef8e/32.png) [@stolichnaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stolichnaya)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-question/10677/9 "2000-04-19T18:07:00Z")
And **Rhythmdvl** , I apologize for pushing you to type out that whole thing when apparently you described it perfectly well in your first post. Mea culpa. * * * stoli “There’s always a little dirt, or infinity, or something.” -Feynman ---
**Author:** ![starfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/87869e/32.png) [@starfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/starfish)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-question/10677/10 "2000-04-19T19:06:00Z")
There is also a non-breaking hyphen if you need one. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2000, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-question/10677/11 "2000-04-19T22:06:00Z")
Thanks everyone! I made a simple find / replace macro to make my life even easier. Find it - select it - macro it - forget about it. One two three! Thanks again! * * * Once in a while you can get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right…