What is this formatting box with word spaces?

Question

What is this formatting box with word spaces?

Liz H 20

Space box

Could someone tell me what this box just above '[CN]Chapter' is please? I get sent Word docs from publishers and sometimes these crop up. They're easy to get rid of but they're a pain, and I don't know what they are, or how to describe them!

Thank you

Answer accepted by question author

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Answer 1

Stefan Blom 325K MVP Volunteer Moderator

I am repeating your screen shot below (trying to make it a little larger). Are you referring to the little gray object that the arrow points to? To me, it looks like a content control. Try right-clicking it and see if there is an option to delete the control. If not, make a copy of the document using File > Save As > Browse and choose to save the copy in Word 97–2003 format (*.doc). This would remove all content controls, but leaving the document content intact.

Skärmavbild 2025-07-24 kl. 18.59.32

Liz H 20 Reputation points

2025-07-25T09:07:05.41+00:00

Thanks, Stefan! Yes, it is that little grey box. There was a content control option so I clicked to remove it. So is this to do with format, then?
Stefan Blom 325K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-07-25T09:51:16.33+00:00

Thanks for the follow-up. Content controls are a type of placeholders, introduced with the *.docx format. They can be used to display and/or add info, and they are often in templates. At a guess, this particular one is from a template you or someone else once used.
Liz H 20 Reputation points

2025-07-25T10:21:08.74+00:00

Ah, thank you! That's great. I have had work from this copy editor before, so there's a good chance it's in her template. Thank you very much.
Stefan Blom 325K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2025-07-25T10:22:26.7466667+00:00

I'm glad I could help. :-)

Answer 2

Suzanne S Barnhill 275K MVP Volunteer Moderator

This would be some kind of markup used by the publisher for conversion to print. The [CN] indicates that the paragraph is a chapter number, and it will be formatted accordingly. This is similar to applying heading styles in Word, just more visible.

Liz H 20 Reputation points

2025-07-24T14:20:44.0933333+00:00

Thank you but it's the box just above [CN] that I'm intrigued by. It doesn't always occur, and it seems to happen at the beginning of some paragraphs, but not all. I think in this document I had about six in total.

Answer 3

DaveM121 818K Independent Advisor

Please provide a screenshot of a Word document showing the boxes you are referring to that appears in some of the Word documents you are sent, so I can see the problem you are referring to.

Liz H 20 Reputation points

2025-07-24T08:30:58.66+00:00

Apologies, I didn't check I had the right file extension.

Answer 4

DaveM121 818K Independent Advisor

Thank you for the screenshot, this is a mystery, it seems to be some sort of thumbnail, I have not seen that box previously, if you hover your mouse over that box, or click into it, does that produce any result in that Word document?

Liz H 20 Reputation points

2025-07-24T09:33:18.2033333+00:00

It just seems to be a series of word spaces but they don't show even with reveal codes, unless I accidentally click on them. I can't see any changes to the document when I click into it. They usually appear at the beginning of paragraphs only. I think I've deleted all the ones in this document now, so I can't experiment further, unfortunately.

Answer 5

DaveM121 818K Independent Advisor

If there is still one of those boxes in that document, select it and press Ctrl + C, then select Find - Replace and in the Find What box, press Ctrl + V, what characters are then pasted into that Find What box.

Liz H 20 Reputation points

2025-07-24T13:45:01.0833333+00:00

I will, if I find one! EDIT: I just found one. All I can see in F&R is a blank space. No marks whatsoever. It's as if I'd just typed five word spaces in the find box.
DaveM121 818K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-07-24T13:47:18.2866667+00:00

Okay, I will be here.
Liz H 20 Reputation points

2025-07-24T13:53:16.0733333+00:00

Sorry, I edited my comment above before I realised you'd replied. It's just a blank space. (see above) If I delete it with track changes on, it shows as a single deleted word space.
DaveM121 818K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-07-24T14:00:59.66+00:00

This is very strange, it may be some sort of track changes formatting mark, it is hard to know what the document author has done to that document, because I have never seen that box in any Word document previously.

If you do a Find and Replace and enter 5 spaces into the Find What box and nothing in the Replace With box, then select Replace All, does that remove that mysterious box form the document.
Liz H 20 Reputation points

2025-07-24T14:01:13.8733333+00:00

And when I delete, I have to press the delete key twice - the spaces go first, and then I have to delete the box.
Liz H 20 Reputation points

2025-07-24T14:06:51.22+00:00

I pressed Find Next, both with and without wildcards, and it found nothing.
Liz H 20 Reputation points

2025-07-24T14:10:47.3333333+00:00

Aha! Copying and pasting into F&R, however, takes me to the next result. And I have to click on it twice to display itself - one click gives me a narrow outline, the second click fills it in with the word spaces.

EDIT this is very confusing. It doesn't take me to the next result, it takes me to the start of a random paragraph or line.

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What is this formatting box with word spaces?

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