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How do I insert a new text paragraph into an outline in Word?

Anonymous
2022-10-29T20:42:09+00:00

I've got several sentences of text.

I want to make a sentence in the middle a header but whenever I try to do that with the arrows on the outline tab all the sentences are promoted.

I'm using Microsoft Office 16.6 on a Mac.

Example:

Sentence 1

Sentence 2

Sentence 3

Sentence 4

Sentence 5

If I select Sentence 4 and try to promote it all the sentences are promoted.

I'm assuming that's because they seem to be in one text section since there is a little box in the upper left by Sentence 1 and no where else.

I've tried shift enter between sentences and enter between sentences and it doesn't seem to create a new text section.

Thanks for any help!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | MacOS

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  1. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 322.9K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2022-10-29T21:21:23+00:00

    Each of the sentences, or at least Sentence 4, would need to be in individual paragraphs (created by using Enter)

    See the article "Formatting applied to one paragraph affects the entire document” at:

    wordmvp.com/FAQs/Formatting/WholeDocumentReformatted.htm

    That article is written for Word when running under Windows, but there is probably something similar in Word on a Mac, though it will almost certainly be in another location.

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  2. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435K Reputation points
    2022-10-31T00:07:12+00:00

    I'm afraid I really don't understand what you want to do but perhaps one of these articles on Outlining in Word will help point you in the right direction:

    Outlining - Kenyon
    Outline - Rado

    Note that both are based on Word for Windows but can readily be applied to Mac Word for the most part. Don't hesitate to ask for clarification of any specific points. Please use the terminology used in the program in order to avoid confusion [e.e., header & heading each have explicitly different meanings.

    Be sure to provide the correct Version of your Office software as indicated in Word> About Miceosoft Word in the main menu... There never has been a Version 16.6 of Mac Office.

    What I can tell you is that Shift+return creates a soft return [aka, line break] rather than creating a new paragraph.

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  3. Stefan Blom 339.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2022-10-30T23:55:26+00:00

    Note that Shift+Enter does not create a new paragraph; it inserts a line break within a paragraph. Line spacing applies but not paragraph spacing (which is added before or after a whole paragraph).

    Display nonprinting marks to get a clearer view of what is going on. Maybe what appears to be separate paragraphs really is one and the same paragraph.

    Also, remember that paragraph spacing before/after is suppressed in Outline view.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-10-30T21:39:43+00:00

    every sentence is separated with an enter.

    I also tried shift enter.

    But they aren't shown as individual paragraphs in the outline.

    Also the link you gave me isn't working; the server isn't responding.

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