# Word XP reformatting? (removing returns)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-xp-reformatting-removing-returns/126824>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 3, 2002, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-xp-reformatting-removing-returns/126824 "2002-09-03T16:45:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nikjohns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/53a042/32.png) [@nikjohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikjohns)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-xp-reformatting-removing-returns/126824/1 "2002-09-03T16:45:17Z")

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I have downloaded a document from the internet, which is “helpfully” formatted to the following:

> [@](#):
>
> Page 002| Some topics in the recent American past have  
> | the immediacy and power that still engage  
> | our collective imagination. Names like, “The  
> | Grassy Knoll,” or “Roswell,” roll off our tongue

Is there any easy way (using Word XP) to reformat and remove some of the carriage returns for ease of printing. Yes, I could go through manually, but I’m looking at around 110 pages.

Thanks Dopers (and metatusers)

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**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-xp-reformatting-removing-returns/126824/2 "2002-09-03T17:03:19Z")

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You can’t have Word to selectively remove some of the carriage returns. You can use the advanced replace function to remove all the carriage returns. It just doesn’t have any sophisticated regular expression handling ability to let you do that.

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**Author:** ![nikjohns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/53a042/32.png) [@nikjohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikjohns)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-xp-reformatting-removing-returns/126824/3 "2002-09-03T17:41:42Z")

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That’s fine; I do want to remove them all.

Thanks for your help.

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**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-xp-reformatting-removing-returns/126824/4 "2002-09-03T17:48:53Z")

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Try Edit|Replace

Click “More” in the dialog.  
In the “Special” dropdown, select “Manual Line Break” and ensure it puts a ^| in the “Find What” textbox. Leave “Replace With” blank. Click “Replace” a few times to make sure it’s doing what you want - if so, click “Replace All”.

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**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-xp-reformatting-removing-returns/126824/5 "2002-09-03T19:02:13Z")

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I do this a lot. Here’s my procedure:

1. Make sure that there you have _two_ breaks between real paragraphs.
2. Find a character that appears nowhere in the document. I usually use ~
3. Replace all double paragraph marks (^p^p) with the character you chose.
4. Replace all remaining single paragraph marks (^p) with a blank space.
5. Replace all the ~ characters with a single or double paragraph mark.

Done!

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**Author:** ![nikjohns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/53a042/32.png) [@nikjohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikjohns)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-xp-reformatting-removing-returns/126824/6 "2002-09-03T21:33:16Z")

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Thanks **Keeve** for getting the answer spot on (You rock), and props to **DarrenS** and **Urban Ranger** for getting me half way there.

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**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-xp-reformatting-removing-returns/126824/7 "2002-09-04T06:04:22Z")

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Nice trick **Keeve**

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**Author:** ![GopherGod72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f0a364/32.png) [@GopherGod72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GopherGod72)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2002, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-xp-reformatting-removing-returns/126824/8 "2002-09-04T07:04:33Z")

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I gotta get me one of those new fangled computer with carriage returns.