It depends on which version of Word you have but if it has the ‘Ribbon’ then look for the box with this symbol in it - ¶ Its a toggle.
It’s in the Paragraph section on the ribbon in Word 2010
To make it default I just tick “Show all Formatting Marks” in Options > Display (the above toggle still works) and I also tick “show text boundaries” in Advanced Options also in Options
A number of people I know dislike this as they reckon it makes the screen too cluttered but I like it and have it on permanently.
If you use Office 365, you have to go into it knowing or reading about the rules. As well as the use of the program, space in the Cloud is being virtually rented to the user as I see it. Stop the subscription and the program stops working. After that, it looks like 90 days notice is given to do something about downloading and storing your files elsewhere before the Cloud space is taken back.
That should be plenty of time in theory. Hopefully, Muddy’s problems can be sorted out within that period or sooner. Having gained access to the Cloud storage (if that’s where the files are), files can be downloaded and stored locally or somewhere else.
I take the point about no file format being reliable forever but changes tend to happen gradually. A Microsoft document can be opened in an older format for quite a while and then saved in a newer format, so perpetuating the ability to safely store MS Office files locally. External USB drives probably aren’t going to go suddenly obsolete. There’s likely to be time involved and adaptor leads/devices available even if this were to happen.
I believe I have as good a system as any (though I stand to be corrected!).
Routinely, whenever I save a new or modified file I copy it to both OneDrive and Dropbox (two places on ‘the cloud’). Belt and braces; if one goes down for any reason, there is the other one.
They are my backup for only a few weeks, though, because then I copy all of those files to both of my external hard drives. Again, belt and braces!
So at any time all of my files are in three different places, so if one is attacked by an American drone (sorry, just watching the news!) I still have two.
This is something I’d recommend.
The cloud storage places have never failed and the two external hard drives are only a few quid (well, around £30 or so) each.
After a totally sleepless night I have been crawling around in the attic found the computer box and the licence yippee !
Now I need to have it put back in so am taking it into the shop and hopefully they will do it for me .
That’s about as much as you can do to store files safely digitally. The only drawback being an unlikely (hopefully) complete and long-term failure of world-wide electricity supplies. Then we might wish our documents were all printed out and locked away in a waterproof/fireproof safe. I actually have one of those.
In common with a few others on this forum, I bought a ‘reintroduced’ activation key - keys that were put back into the public domain as the corporate computers they were on originally were scrapped or replaced. They were available from Amazon for around 12 quid if memory serves. Once purchased, you download the MS Office suite from Microsoft, install it, and then used the activation key.
I’ve used my copy of Office Pro 2016 for a good while now with no problems. I needed the suite for Access, and Outlook but Word and Excel work well too. All the required updates and security patches are installed from time to time also.
(or, instead of using that dreadfully long link, try searching for Office 365 Personal Edition) I went over to this 365 version after having used lower level Office packages which I got off Ebay, or wherever.
They were always suspect because they are really just surplus product keys nicked off company packages where they could take away licence keys and nobody would notice.
After some dodgy experiences I decided that about 1 pound a week wasn’t bad for what you get with Office 365.
Beware of sellers offering you Office cheap.
You can’t buy Office - you could only ever buy a lease to use it.
On the subject of your error code.
A search on that code leads to a lot of suggested ways to fix it - as a corruption problem.
One of the ways is just to delete it and re-install.
Doing that should not cause loss of your documents.
Assuming you still have the installation disk and it has a valid key.
I think the problem here is not Word itself but the fact that Microsoft decided to purposely sabotage people’s understanding of it purely for profit. I despair at IT companies but they have us by the S&Curlies.
