Have you had this happen? It especially likes to rear its irritating head in other people's documents that you receive.
I am talking about a mysterious horizontal line that appears in the middle of your Word document, like I had recently in a document I was working on. In this case, I had scanned the page in, and the optical character recognition (OCR) program had put it in there itself.
It's not a regular line, drawn with the graphic tools, you can't find any option for it in the menus, right-clicking on it does nothing, and when you pass the mouse over, it merely gives you the slider pointer icon, used to indicate that you can move it up and down.
Well, no need to tear your hair out! This line is actually... Wait for it...! A border! Don't ask me how it got there, but all you need to do is highlight the section around the line (just left mouse, and pull a nice big block round the area, provided there are no tables nearby where you want to preserve a border). Then just go up to the border-line selection icon in the toolbar and choose the one that clears all borders:
Hey presto (I say that a lot round here!), that pesky line should disappear! If it doesn't then, well, blame aliens!
Friday, June 8, 2007
Get rid of that annoying horizontal line in Word
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78 comments:
Ooooh sweet. Thanks man, that has driven me crazy for years!
Great, my pleasure!
I must admit that I only discovered this fairly recently - it had bugged me many a time too...!
OMG, fuck curing cancer.. this is the REAL threat to society..
saved me a few hours, thanks bud
Great! Pleased to hear it helped someone. Markos, you wait till you get the mysterious horizontal line - you'll come running, oh yes you will!
Thanks so much, jeez I HATED that thing! :)
I can't thank you enough. These lines were like metal shavings under my eyelids.
Oh my god you are a lifesaver! Those lines were making such a mess of my documents.
Thanks a lot, had one of those annoying lines in my dissertation and was starting to get a little worried...
Wow, those pesky lines are getting everywhere, even into the highest levels of academia! Is nobody safe?!
thanks.. had no idea what this line was..and i'm an IT consultant!
why microsoft thinks its a good idea to auto create a boder when you add a line of underscore's escapes me
THANK YOU!
YOU'RE the FREAKIN'G MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you so much- just as you said, couldn't find it in menus such as AutoCorrect, etceteras. No clue how a border got into the document but I am relieved to see it removed!
Thanks you saved my life x
YES!! I was about to build up a heart attack.
Another big thank you from me
after trying to get rid of it for a couple of hours (an imp. document....)
Its not just in faxes or Ocr but may happen if the border is drawn in a simple text doc.
Bless YOU !
Spot on x
FANTASTIC! Thx so much!!!
Your tip works!
When I did it, the horizontal line just moved up the selected block, so I selected the block immediately above the horizontal line, and then it worked. No more magically inserted & annoying horizontal lines!
Good stuff! I haven't had the problem for ages myself, but I always am on the lookout for those annoying horizontal lines..! How they even get there is another question entirely...
Thanks.
I have been ready to punch something for the last few hours trying to get rid of these stupid lines.
I have spent more of my time using microsoft word over the past 15 years trying to fix it's stupid quirks and formatting errors than actually being able to write anything.
You...are...god.
Thank you very much. It was all, "la la la, gotta type my english essay, due tomorrow," and then "AHHHH! WTF IS THIS STUPID LINE?!?" D<<<
thank you :D
oh my gosh. thank you. i was about to rip my face off! i was getting so frustrated because i accidently copied and pasted it from another document and i could not get rid of it. thanks!
I'm glad this post is still helping people - this can only mean that the annoying horizontal line is alive and well!
I just have to add that I caught it in the act today! I realised one way that it can appear. If in Word you type a line of dashes, "--------" (not sure how exactly many there have to be), the autoformat function will turn this into the dreaded annoying horizontal line when you press return!
I can just imagine somebody innocently typing dashes, like I did, and then having NO IDEA how to get rid of that line afterwards, since it doesn't appear to be editable in any way.
So beware...!
cheers buddy. it helped me a lot!
Thank you very much for this.
Aha thanks(:
Was trying to remove then I decided to google the bastard haha.
First result was this.
Fixed it, it was there because of a template I was using..
Anyone add me on myspace?
myspace.com/lordofthecherrybomb
Genius, thank you so very much! Your tip is responsible for my sanity...
much gratitude,
phd student on the edge
Great solution. Who in the world at microsoft thought this would be a good idea? They need to be bludgeoned with a keyboard.
thanks... was just about to break the monitor and/or keyboard.
Then I googled. Found this. feeling better now that I can breathe again...
Oh the wrath Microsoft Word inspires. You should see when you get into some advanced stuff in Word, like using hidden text extensively, protected text etc. You get some amazing crashes, you wouldn't believe...
But I think the main problem with these "bugs" is they're not really bugs, Word is doing what it's supposed to - the problem is that us average users cannot possibly fathom what it has done. Once you know, it's simple, but until then...
Many thanks for creating this page - I was going nuts till I found your solution!
_Selecting_ the line and then "no border" didn't work for me. But putting the cursor just before (above) the dreaded line, and only then clicking on "no border" worked. Phew! Wasted so much time on this... Long live google, and charitable folks who put tips up :) Thanks!
Thanks for the extra clarification. Yes, I put "select everything" just to make the explanation simpler, but I am surprised it actually didn't work that way.
Anyway, once you realise the line is a border that's half the mystery solved!
What a cancer is right. I had to highlight the whole 100 page document, b/c when i just highlighted one section the dreaded line reappeared in another section. Incredible that 95% of consumers have to put up with such a buggy program. I have already downloaded Open Office and am considering switching over if I didn't think it would cost me ages.
bless you for this tip!
i have been trying to avoid the dreaded automatic line by not using hypens, underscores, etc in my docs to separate sections - only to find it also does the same thing with "equal" signs.
You will be pleased to know that this "feature" can be turned off! Check my quick tip about that!
Stop the Annoying Horizontal Line in Word
Seriously, has't Microsoft not received enough complaints about that "stupid, annoying horizontal line" (the words I used in google to get this page) to have a user-friendly means of getting rid of it e.g. highlight and delete. You've made yet another fan.... thank you.
thank you so much you saved my friends work 8D he was getting very angry at the people around him :3
I have this problem where the black line just moves upward each time I try to do as you've suggested... I click the "no border" thing and have tried highlighting the line in different ways with different amounts of text around it, but it just jumps somewhere else in the document! Woe is me!!
Thank you for the help. I had to select the whole document to keep it from jumping around. This was very annoying.
Bless you. This is the single most irritating flaw in Word.
Well, that's a pretty contentious statement :) But let's not start listing them!
oh my freaking god. HALLE-FREAKING-LUJAH! that thing is so annoying! I was like "Alright, Microsoft Word. You're amazing, but if you do this to me one more time..." and now I get it! YAY! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Ahaha the laugh is on the other mouth now paperclip man!
It has no comeback... bummer.
Thanks!
We sure showed it!
(I hope!)
Thanks mate, this helps a lot!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I won't in any way be able to add a new kind of thank you to this post, but I just wanted to write anyway and say that THE LINE HAS BEEN BUGGING ME FOR YEARS... I used to cut and paste the entire document above and below the line into a NEW document, and even re-type stuff. You'd think you were in the clear for a few essays, and then BAM, it's back. What I love most about this thread however, is the affiliation I feel with other post-ers in their despair anger and relief - keep the colourful language (e.g. 'rip my face off') coming! In rageful fits of companionship friends... Bree.
Saved me hours I'm sure. Thank you!!!
I just had a similar problem in Word 2007, but it was in the Header. A mysterious horizontal line that I had not added and would not go away. It was not a typical border, however, because simply turning off borders did not work. It was a PAGE BORDER, on the second tab of the Borders and Shading dialog box.
I seriously thought I was going to run screaming from the building tonight if it would not disappear...
Hey, thanks for the Word 2007 tip - the mysterious, annoying line had to appear there too! I'm sure someone round here will find this useful, once they've finished (or is it started?) ranting about how much they hate Word 2007!
God bless google and people like you with useful tips. I had been bordering insanity with this freaking line..
Wow, the annoying horizontal line seems to be making a resurgence! A lot of people complaining about it lately! Glad I could help!
thank you so much. i was tearing my hair out - even tearing my boyfriend's hair out - trying to get rid of that flamin' thing. you have literally SAVED MY LIFE.
Thank you!!! You really are a life saver man.. This fucking line is driving me crazy.. Wonder why there is no obvious way to get rid of this line.
haha this is classic how many peeps have commented! i've had like 4 lines invading my doc...faaaark i was definitely starting to actually swear at my pc and that has never happened before! LEGEND=markowe :)
Yeah, there seems to have been an increase in the appearance of the annoying horizontal line of late!
Come on, you really never swore at your computer before...?!
lol you're really amazing! thanks so much, prob saved me hours too
thanks so much! I was doing a works cited that was part of a research paper worth 25% of my final and it appeared! even the librarians couldnt figure out what to do!! thanks again!
doood holy shit ur my savior lol that thing just drove me crazy, been trying to get rid of it for a few days now lol
I think I love you. THANK YOU! You just saved me from going completely mad from the wrath and frustration and my computer from flying out the window. (I know it is not my laptop's fault - but it would have been a quick and easy fix.)
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG! Just what I needed! You can't believe how many websites I've searched for help...and the microsoft word help is no use at all.
Thanks for the tip! Now I can hand up my work to my teacher without getting scolded for my formatting issues. My life saver! :D
I love you!
That's just what I needed.
Thank you!! you have just improved my quality of life greatly! So kind of you to post it, you saved me HOURS of re-writing a document! Bless!
OMFG THANK YOU. Words cannot describe the agony that evil line has put me through. It was wandering wherever it pleased, multiplying freely, resisting all efforts to delete, and basically driving me insane. You saved my life.
Never ceases to amaze me, the amount of irritation and frustration the annoying horizontal line causes! Glad to have helped!
You are my hero!
Didn't work for me when I chose "none" in Borders And Shading, so instead I chose to colour the line white, and then it just became invisible! :)
Finally someone knows how to fix the problem! Thanks
Thanks, thanks, thanks! That stupid line was killing me!
OMG I think I want to marry u, you really saved me :)
THANK YOU!!! i was about to throw my computer out the window
Dude, you rock! This has bothered me for YEARS!
You're a God! Thanks a million. I was about to throw my computer out the window.
Thanks soooo much I have been tearing my hair oout for an hour trying to get rid of this line!
I can't say thank you enough. That thing was driving me bonkers!!!!
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