Deleting Dotted Lines in Word

I’ve finally figured out the most maddening problem in Microsoft Word. I never could get rid of these lines of small squares that reached from margin to margin.

Nothing would dent them. I couldn’t highlight them, delete them, or overwrite them. The only solution was to erase the whole passage that contained them, and type from scratch. Sometimes that failed. They spread like rabbits.

Here’s the secret. That line is the bottom border on the paragraph immediately above. So you have to attack it in that paragraph. Here’s how.

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Highlight the whole paragraph before the line, even if it’s just one carriage return. Click FORMAT, then BORDERS AND SHADING, then BORDERS (1). Under APPLY TO, click PARAGRAPH (2). Under SETTINGS (3), look at the bottom item: CUSTOM (4). That’s the baddie. See that little line of four dots? You have to kill that. Click NONE (5) at the top of that column, then OK (6). Voila, the line is gone, adios.

Maybe it’s not. It’s still there, but moved up one line. The fiends at Microsoft designed in a defense against us. If there’s more than one dotted line, they stack on top of one another, but you only see one. So you have to repeat the whole process until they’re all gone. Last night, I rooted out seven of them masquerading as one.

By the way, if you want to create that line, type a carriage return, three asterisks, and a carriage return.

Different versions of Word may do this in different ways, but maybe you can figure out how to make the proper changes. I use Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac.

[Do you know different ways to get rid of these little monsters?]

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on October 21, 2010 at 2:38 pm Comments (16)

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On October 26, 2010 at 3:42 pm Frolic said:

This is just another reason I gave up Word. It’s slow, it crashes, and it’s overloaded with features no writer needs.

For a basic, no frills word processor on the Mac I use “Bean.” It’s free.

These days, I started doing my drafting in WriteRoom, which gives me a distraction-free, full-screen interface.

They can noth produce “.doc” format, although neither will do “.docx.”
On October 26, 2010 at 4:31 pm donfry said:

Thanks, Frolic.
Word is wonderful except when it’s awful. It has a mind of its own, esp. on the Mac. Those dotted lines have driven me nuts for years. And docx is its own nightmare.
Don
On June 21, 2011 at 9:41 am Carole Moore said:

This is fabulous advice and it works. After spending hours trying to find a way to rid myself of that awful dotted line, I came across Mr. Fry’s advice. Thank you so much.

Also, if you don’t want to have to repeat the steps over and over, if you do a select all under the edit function and then follow Mr. Fry’s steps, it seems to banish the dotted lines altogether.

I’ve bookmarked your site. Great writing advice!
On June 21, 2011 at 9:48 am donfry said:

Thanks, Carole. Those dotted lines drove me nuts.
On August 11, 2011 at 3:12 pm Melissa Marote said:

Here is another way.
Sounds like they may be paragraph borders. Try this:

1. On the Home tab of the Ribbon, click the ¶ button to display paragraph marks (¶s).
2. Select the paragraph mark above the line you want to delete.
3. In the Paragraph section of the Home Tab, click the Borders and Shading list box button and select No Border.
On August 24, 2011 at 10:29 am Doug said:

You just saved my document again. I have fought this and fought this. Typically I just paste the document into a text file so the formatting is lost. Then I can at least salvage the text.

Thanks once again.
On August 24, 2011 at 5:19 pm donfry said:

Thanks, Melissa and Doug. This solves the deepest and most maddening mystery of Word.
On September 13, 2011 at 1:06 pm Alanna Coca (@AlannaCoca) said:

Thank you! I’m so glad Google found you for me
On November 3, 2011 at 11:42 pm Jan Gallagher said:

Thanks – I was ready to scream – borders you say – but why? why?
On November 23, 2011 at 5:21 pm Lynette said:

Oh my gosh, you cannot imagine how many hours I have spent trying to remove those dashed lines, and instead, they kept multiplying!

After trying Dr. Fry’s suggestion (and repeating it many times) I came to the conclusion that either it was not working for me, or I must have hundreds of those hidden lines. I was glad to see the suggestion by Carole Moore above about trying “select all” and then proceeding as suggested by Dr. Fry and they disappeared!

You guys are geniuses! Thank you both so much for sharing these wonderful secrets with those of us who might otherwise spend the rest of our lives imprisoned by these grids.
On November 23, 2011 at 5:40 pm donfry said:

Thanks, Lynette.
They drove me out of my mind. That’s why I wrote that post. Don
On January 20, 2012 at 3:01 pm Linda said:

Thanks so much. I was afraid I was going to have to resort to some old-school cut, paste and photo copy nonsense.
-Linda
On February 7, 2012 at 3:38 am Patsy said:

Likewise, this has solved a problem that has driven me demented for years. In Word 2010, which I’ve only just acquired and am not finding particularly user friendly, it’s under Page Layout / Borders.

Eureka! Thank you so much Don Fry.
On February 7, 2012 at 8:49 am donfry said:

Thanks, Patsy. You’ve joined the ranks of the dotted-line support group.
Don
On February 11, 2012 at 3:34 pm Ken said:

You just saved me a ton of frustration. I am forever in your debt
On February 11, 2012 at 5:26 pm donfry said:

Thanks, Ken.
Getting rid of those dots is like lifting cannon balls off your neck.
Don

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