WORD 2010 Formatting Trauma

Have you tried the 'Clear Formatting' option? There's usually one of those. Starts you over from scratch, but that might be preferable? (I'm not super good at figuring out this kind of thing without a visual reference.)

Not an expert by miles but wonder if a system restore might do the trick. (googling around - I suspect not. so ignore.)

https://www.howtogeek.com/school/micros ... s/lesson5/

Maybe this will help?

This might fix everything and restore word back to its defaults:

Delete NORMAL.DOTM and BUILDINGBLOCKS.DOTX
Normal.DOTM and BuildingBlocks.DOTX usually reside in C:Users<your user name>AppDataRoamingMicrosoftTemplates
The default NORMAL.DOTM files used for new profiles are stored C:UsersDefaultAppDataRoamingMicrosoftTemplates
These files are rebuilt automatically when word is started

You might have to show hidden folders in windows explorer to show the hidden folder AppData..
Hope this helps...

Scrivener's Windows' release is a year old and developed by a second party, the original developed for Mac. Mac and Windows have never played together well. Cross platform and application compatibility issues are inevitable. And Scrivener's more useful proprietary codes and formats are more likely to cause conversion conflicts.

Not much to do but copy from Scrivener and paste into an intermediary text application, copy from that, scrubs all Scrivener proprietary codes and formats, and paste into a Word document. Wordpad for a scrubber, for example, preserves italics, bold, underline formats, and a few basic paragraph format codes.

Likewise for email paste-ins, copy from Word, paste into Wordpad, scrubs all but what a hypertext email (HTML) paste-in accepts. If plain text email only, then, say, scrub through Notepad. There goes the italics and all. Maybe save to file whatever scrubs are wanted for archives.

Word's as installed default document format is different from Standard Manuscript Format: different line space dimensions, different margin settings, different font dimensions, several other different settings. Likely, the settings are intended for Microsoft internal correspondence preferences. Or -- an intended mishmash that forces users to learn how to reset document settings. A consideration is to set up a default document template that contains a user's preferred settings. And save as "default" for document setup.

Except for typeface, Standard Manuscript Format settings are letter size, one inch all margins, and double line space; a personal option might prefer a single line space. SMF's traditional typeface is Courier New or similar typewriter face. Times New Roman has become the overall preferred SMF typeface anymore. And 12 pt plain roman font.

Other personal Word default document settings for adjustment considerations might include whether auto single or auto double space after terminal punctuation, auto replace double hyphens with an en or em dash, auto replace three-period ellipsis points with Word's proprietary single glyph, auto replace superscript ordinal suffixes, like the st in 1st, nd in 2nd, rd in 3rd, and th in 4th, etc., or turn off all auto replaces. Plus, turn off header and footer defaults, and other pesky Microsoft forced intrusions.

Hi Julia,
Why are we assuming that it is a Word problem?

If you can return Word to its default settings, do so. Then, copy and paste somewhere else (Facebook, Grammarly, etc.). If a document can be copied and pasted elsewhere, then the email account is suspect. Try using one with a different browser.

Cheap fix if you don't have time: Let's say that no direct way has worked. Copy and paste the file into Facebook Messenger and send it to one trusted family member or friend. You should then be able to copy and paste it from Messenger into your email (Remember to delete Messenger's formatting before you send or it will show up blue). Now, delete the message from Messenger.

I write in WORD 2010 and in Scrivener. I usually plot only in Scrivener after many try/fails on transferring prose from Scrivener to/from Word.

Did you copy&paste to Word or compile your Scrivener project into a word document? Getting the compile settings right can be a bit tricky - but it's certainly possible.

However, I still have trouble copy/pasting from Word into an email or another format. (for instance, when submission guidelines require you to paste the MS into the body of the email rather than use an attachment)

Which email program are you using? Which other format are you referring to?

When copying text from Word, you're also copying metadata, like the font, the size, any bold/italic/underlined parts etc. However, not all target programs are able to render your text with that metadata exactly like Word. For many the default paste option is to just keep the text, which means you'll lose all formatting metadata. It depends on the program you're pasting into.

Cheers,
Helge

Wow! I just looked to find all of these responses.

Thank You!
disgruntledpeony
TimE
einstein36
orbivillein
kentagions
Helge Mahrt

I just read through all the comments. I have attempted parts of your suggestions, but each of you have given advise that I have not yet tried. Tomorrow I should have a couple of hours free. I will go through each one at a time and will let you know how I fare.