Adding Many No-Width Optional Breaks

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 23, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2000, 2002, and 2003


1

Beginning in Word 2000, Microsoft introduced a new character called the no-width optional break. This character has been discussed in other issues of WordTips; for English documents it can be used to wrap long or compound words at non-standard places. For instance, it could be used to add an optional break after a slash character.

If you want to use the no-width optional break in a document that has lots of slashes, you may wonder if there is a way to do a find and replace to add the special character. The short answer is "yes, there is." Follow these steps:

  1. Press Ctrl+H. Word displays the Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box. (See Figure 1.)
  2. Figure 1. The Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.

  3. In the Find What box, enter the slash.
  4. In the Replace With box, enter a slash and then hold down the Alt key as you type 8203 on the numeric keypad. You'll see a little box appear after the slash.
  5. Click Replace All.
  6. Close the Find and Replace dialog box.

Holding down the Alt key as you type 8203 on the numeric keypad inserts the Unicode character for the no-width optional break. After performing all the steps, your document is set to do an optional break after any slash character.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (3903) applies to Microsoft Word 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Creating a Normal Index

Adding an index to a document is an easy task. There are a couple of ways you can do it, as described in this tip.

Discover More

Exact Matches with DSUM

The DSUM function is very handy when you need to calculate a sum based on data that matches criteria you specify. If you ...

Discover More

Templates and Page Setup

Templates are a great way to share styles, macros, and other settings among various documents. One thing that isn't ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!

More WordTips (menu)

Replacing an X with a Check Mark

In order to provide a finishing touch to your document, you may want to replace mundane X marks with fancier check marks. ...

Discover More

Replacing Text with a Graphic

The Find and Replace feature in Word provides you with some powerful tools you can use to process a document. One such ...

Discover More

Finding and Deleting Rows

Got a table that contains rows you want to delete? Deleting one or two rows in a table is easy; deleting a bunch of rows ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 9 - 3?

2022-04-23 14:51:48

Phil Rabichow

Strange. I've tried this in Word 2003 & using Alt+8203 on the numeric keyboard & all it does is insert a rectangle within a rectangle.


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.