Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Letters Turn Into Squares.
Ingrid wrote with a problem she was having with a document. It seems that as she was working on the document, the whole first page suddenly turned into squares and now she doesn't know how to get the words back.
There could be any number of causes for this problem. The key is understanding what it means when characters turn into small squares—that Word is using a font for which character information is not available. If the document was readable one minute and then unreadable the next, it means that something changed in regards to the font in use.
One possibility is that the document was selected (Ctrl+A) and then the font changed to one that can't display the characters in use. The way around this problem is to again select the entire document and then hold down the Ctrl key as you press the Spacebar. This changes the font back to whatever font is defined for the underlying style assigned to the paragraphs.
Of course, this leads to the second possibility: That the font used for a style is no longer valid. You can check this out by looking at what style is used for the problem paragraphs, and then modify those styles so they use a font that will display as you desire. (Try a font such as Arial or Times New Roman. These are pretty standard on most systems.)
Another option is that the font you want to use has been removed from your system. Check the name of the font used in the document, and then use the Windows Control Panel to see if that particular font is installed on the machine. If it isn't, then you will need to either reformat your text, or you will need to install the desired font.
If you are still having problems, take the document and see if it displays properly on a different system. If it doesn't, then you probably have a document corruption problem, and you will need to try to transfer the text from the bad document to a new one. (How you try to recover the contents of a corrupted document has been discussed at length in other issues of WordTips.)
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (566) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Letters Turn Into Squares.
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2020-04-24 18:42:33
You just saved my life!!! Hours and days working on this grant and just when I finished and was ready to insert on the grant form, they turned to squares! ARRRGGGGG! Thank you so much! I simply sent it to myself and voila it was back as words in times! Ah. Thank you so much!!!
2019-05-20 15:09:50
irene
amazing! life saving tip!
2019-03-15 02:04:43
Dev
Wow, thank u so much...
2018-10-14 08:39:14
Safwat Ammar
very good, thanks a lot, I have a problem with document opens on one PC and on the other shows squares, your idea to keep ctrl and press space solved it as magic.
thanks a lot
2018-08-16 04:44:35
yaya
Thank you so much!
2018-07-30 02:25:39
Sanjay Khursija
i wish to standardise my hindi (Unicode) document. I wish to insert space after coma, but only at those places where there is no space or where there is no number. I find "," and replaceall with ", " it also inserts spaces in numbers. E.g. 10,00,000 is changed to 10, 00, 000 which I donot want. Guide me how to do this in word macro.
2018-01-13 11:29:19
rohan
just awesome :)
Thank You :)
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: 
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