Line numbers go away when I use Convert to Plain Text

Some of the documents I work on have to include line numbers (added by using Layout > Line Numbers in Word) when they are submitted. Lately, I’ve noticed that when I use Convert to Plain Text to remove the field codes before submission, the new version of the document does not include line numbers. I just asked one of my coworkers to try this on her machine, and she got the same result. We’re both using Endnote X7 in Word 2016 on Windows 10 machines.

This is not a big deal, because it’s easy to add the line numbers back in again, but I’m wondering if other people have this same problem.

As a workaround you can first make a copy of the document then use the following steps to remove the field codes in the document which is similar to Converting to Plain Text.

NOTE:

You cannot not undo the following steps so be sure you have a backup first:

On Windows

  • Press [Ctrl]+A on the keyboard to highlight everything.
  • Press [Ctrl]+6 (above the “T” and “Y” key) to remove any hidden field code

On MAC

  • Press [Command]+6 (above the “T” and “Y” key) to remove any additional hidden field codes.
  • Press [Command]+C to copy the highlighted text.

Note, the process described by Tony will also convert to plain text any tables of contents, etc, but it doesn’t appear to remove the line numbers.  ( I confirmed that the convert to plain text and convert to unformated citations both do remove the line numbering, on the PC Endnote X8 version).  

Thanks, Tony and Leanne.

Have you had the “disappearing line numbers” problem yourselves? I’m trying to figure out how common this is.

I don’t have any publisher that has required them, so I never would have noticed this bug.  And most of the time we submit with Endnote fields intact, and don’t remove the fields at all.  Publishers don’t seem to mind that anymore.  – They get converted to PDFs  during the submission process in the majority of online submissions which removes the codes as a part of the conversion.