Removing field codes adjusts spacing in Word document

Hello, 

This is my first post but I have been reading the forum for a while and find it very helpful. I am a medical editor who often receives files from writers who are not very familiar with EndNote. Most of what I know comes from troubleshooting their various emergencies.

Recently I formatted a 16-page Word (2016) document in EndNote x8. As a just-in-case for the writer (she had recurring issues using EndNote), I created a second version of the doc with all the field codes removed (Ctrl+A and Convert to Plain Text) for her to use as a back-up. However, I noticed that the second version was now 17 pages, and all the paragraphs were slightly “longer” than in the original document – the word count was the same and all the text was still there, but the spacing had been adjusted somehow.

I checked the paragraph, font, and page margin settings and can’t find the difference. I called Clarivate tech support and they weren’t familiar with the issue but said that, obviously, with field codes removed any adjustments will have to be made in Word setting.

I don’t need to change the spacing back to the original, I am just curious if anyone has seen the same phenomenon and whether it is normal or a sign that something has gone very wrong?

Many thanks,

Joe

Hello Joe,

In the older versions of Word and EndNote we had seen Convert to Plain Text cause the loss of some Word formatting in a document.

https://support.clarivate.com/Endnote/s/article/EndNote-Using-Convert-to-Plain-Text-or-Remove-Field-Codes-removes-document-formatting?language=en_US

It is possible to remove field codes manually if “Convert to Plain Text” or “Remove Field Codes” is not working for you.

Note : Removal of the field codes, either by the EndNote tool or the manual process described below, will permanently break the “link” between EndNote and the current copy of the paper. If after removing field codes you need to further edit your references using your EndNote program, you will need to return to an original copy of your paper with the field codes intact.

In Windows:

  1. Make a backup of your document.
  2. Press [Ctrl]+A on the keyboard to highlight everything.
  3. Press [Ctrl]+6 (above the “T” and “Y” key) to remove any additional hidden field codes.
  4. Press [Ctrl]+C to copy the highlighted text.
  5. Open a new document and press [Ctrl]+V to paste.

In OS X:

  1. Make a backup of your document.
  2. Press [Apple]+A or [Command]+A on the keyboard to highlight everything.
  3. Press [Apple]+6 or [Command]+6 (above the “T” and “Y” key) to remove any additional hidden field codes.
  4. Press [Apple]+C or [Command]+C to copy the highlighted text.
  5. Open a new document and press [Apple]+V or [Command]+V to paste.