problem "syncing" symbol between different versions of Word

Question

I have been working on a (currently 80,000 word) manuscript for the last two years. When I started, I was using an older version of Word (I believe it was 2016, but not positive). My computer died last winter and now I am using Office 365 ProPlus. In many places in my document I have used the ~ symbol (top left button on the keyboard). This symbol changed between the two versions of Word (it's a bit shorter and curvier now), and when I try to replace the old symbol with the newer one (I need them all to be consistent), it won't allow me to do so. I cannot delete the old symbol, I cannot make it disappear in any way. I've tried backspacing over it, deleting it (it won't even allow me to highlight it), nothing works. I can type over it, but the symbol stays put. What can I do to make these older symbols disappear? Please help, someone!

Answer 1

Very strange. I'm glad you were able to work around the issue by backspacing.

To test this further, I would copy a text paragraph with the mysterious character and paste into a new, blank document, choosing the Keep Text Only option from the Paste Options button. What happens then? Does it "repair" the character?

Answer 2

Unfortunately, I cleared my manuscript of the symbols before I read your last message. It would have been an interesting copy/paste experiment, but I guess we'll never know. 

Thanks again!!