Replacing Hard Return with Carriage Return Without Affecting Multi-Level List

Question

Hello, I have created a Q: and A: multilevel list using Microsoft Office Professional Plus Word 2016. I have modified the Q: and A: to be the interviewer/interviewee's names (i.e. Mark: and Laura:). I also have the line numbers visible. I would like there to be a soft paragraph break (i.e. a carriage return) after each person speaks (see image 4.jpg) however if I Find and Replace all paragraph returns with carriage returns, it removes my current multilevel list because I have Styles attached that follow a paragraph return (see image 5.jpg). Is it possible, short of manually going through my entire document and Shift-entering after every paragraph, to add carriage returns instead? I do not want Space Before or Space After, as that will affect my line numbers (single-spacing is required). Thank you in advance

Answer 1

You can try find and replace with formatting options.
Paragraph space is ^p
Manual line break is ^|

Want to replace with ^p with break ^l. ?

Answer 2

When you replace a paragraph mark with a line break, paragraph-level formatting, including numbering, will be lost. If you Replace All, the main body of the document will consist of a single paragraph and a single paragraph number.

A workaround could be to convert paragraph numbers to text before doing the find & replace.

However, if you are saying that you really need one number per text line (that is, you don't really need paragraph numbering), you should be able to use the built-in Line Numbering feature in Word. Click Layout > Line Numbers > Line Numbering Options.

Answer 3

Shift enter keeps lines together and replacing ^p with them will consider as single paragraph. It also affects line numbering.

If you do not want space before and after, go for paragraph spacing and choose single and set spacing before and after 0 points.

In Microsoft Word terminology, a carriage return is called a paragraph break and a shift-return or soft line break is known simply as a line break.