Microsoft Word Document Object shading and Drop Shadows

It isn't so much a Windows v. Mac issue as it is a version/file format issue.

I'm betting that the object was created in & saved as a .docx file using the newer graphics features of Office [2007, 2008, 2010, 2011]. The problem is that you're pasting to a document saved in the deprecated .doc format which doesn't support the capabilities of the new graphics engine. The shadow data is retained but can't be displayed -- that's why it shows up again when pasted back into a .docx file.

Save the file (who's title bar most likely contains the phrase [Compatibility Mode] in the Word Document (.docx) format & it should come right.

As for the doc-in-doc, yes, it travels with the host. The thing is, though, that if you save your files in the .docx format you'll be able to paste just the editable objects (diagrams) "as is" rather than having to paste in a Word Document Object. Result: Smaller, more efficient, more manageable, more stable document.

Without any specifics about the 'diagram', how it was created or what the file format of the document it was copied from is it's hard to say. My guess is that it has been recognized as a Field & that your preference for Field Shading is set to Always.

See if it helps to go to Word> Preferences> View to change the Field Shading pref to When Selected. If that doesn't remove it you'll need to provide considerably more detail as suggested above. [BTW: Just in case you didn't realize it, the Paste Special option you used actually creates a separate Word document containing the diagram within the document you pasted to.]

As for the Shadow, the Text Box must have a Fill in order to prevent the shadow being applied to the text. Any color, including white, will do. If you increase the Transparency, though, the interior of the Text Box will reflect the shadow.

Any object in a Word document is attached to the text in 1 of 2 ways.

• If Text Wrap is applied it becomes a floating object anchored to a paragraph. It's distance from the text [all sides] is determined by the type of Text Wrap & its Distance from Text  format properties.
• The default, however, is In Line with Text, which means that the object is inserted into a paragraph as though it were a typed character. In that case, its distance from the paragraph above & below are determined by the paragraph formatting attributes of the paragraph, such as Spacing Before & Spacing After.

For the spacing in the diagram: Once you Paste, click the Paste Options button [little Clipboard icon] that appears @ the lower right corner of the pasted content. Select the Keep Source Formatting option. Click it again & select Destination Theme if you wish.

Also, remember that when you Cut/Copy, the formatting of what you select is copied as well. For In Line objects, if you include the ¶ the paragraph formatting from the source is pasted along with the object. If the ¶ is not included the object assumes the formatting of the paragraph it's pasted into. Whenever editing it's best to have the non-printing characters displayed so you can better tell what is actually selected when you take whatever the action happens to be.

Yes you're right again about the compatibility issue. I've saved the source file as a .docx and the problem has now been fixed.

Just with regard to pasting the diagram "as is" as opposed to the word document object, I noticed that when I do this that the space before and after the text within the diagram text boxes all becomes incorrect. It seems to take on the before and after paragraph spacing of the normal style within the destination document that I paste into. I tried using paste special and chose "Formatted text (RTF)" and certain text boxes had the spacing kept but others had space before the paragraph inserted when there was none in the original diagram.

Is there a way to avoid this so that all the diagram's spacing takes precedent once pasted?

Thanks again

Thanks for the reply,

Yes you're right about the field code shading. I switched this to "when selected" and the shading went away.

With regard to the shading problem, it must be some corruption or something with the diagram because I'm able to create the shadow correctly if I open up a new document. The diagrams were created on a Windows version of Word and I'm using them on a mac version so maybe there's some translation problem. If I select one of the shadow boxes and paste it into a new file, the text shadow disappears but then when I paste it back into the other document it reappears. I've even tried to remove all the shadows from the diagram and then reapply but the same thing happens. It's quite a detailed diagram so I'd rather not recreate it. Do you know if there's a workaround?

Also, you mentioned that the paste special option creates a separate Word document containing the diagram. If I hand the full document off to someone once complete, will they have access to the sub-documents containing the diagrams or will I need to supply all these separately?