I put some dashes across the page to separate two paragraphs.  When I
hit return, the dashes turned to thick square dots that make a line
completely across the page.  I cannot delete the line, nor drag the
line up.  However, I can click and drag the line down.  How do I just
get rid of the line?

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Request for Question Clarification by efn-ga on 13 Jan 2004 09:51 PST

What software program are you using when this happens?

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Request for Question Clarification by aht-ga on 13 Jan 2004 15:46 PST

redwriter-ga:

It appears to me (bearing in mind that I can't actually see your
screen!) that you are the 'victim' of Microsoft Word's automatic
formatting feature, AutoCorrect. The programmers of MS Word assumed,
in their own version of wisdom, that any time someone enters a series
of dashes across a line on a page, that what that person really wants
is a horizontal ruled line. In a normal Word document, this is done by
automatically converting the series of dashes into a 'border' for the
affected section of text. That border then represents an attribute of
the section of text... and since that section of text includes
everything from immediately above the 'line', all the way until the
beginning of the section (which may well be the beginning of the
document for you), using delete will never delete it without knowing a
few Word tricks.

Here is how to get rid of this instance of a horizontal line:

1) place the flashing cursor immediately above the line, the tail end
of the last line of text before the line will do;
2) go to the Format menu, select Borders and Shading...
3) select the None setting, then click OK

Please let me know if this matches your situation, and if this fixes
your problem for you, so that I may post this as an Answer. If this
does NOT fix your problem, also please let me know so that I can find
a solution that will.

Best regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher
(and tamer of MS Word)

Sounds like Word.

It's happened to me when I use

****

as a Section Break.

The way to avoid it is to go past the place where you want the symbols
and then go back to the place you want the symbols. That works for me.

To remove the unwanted line, I highlight them and then hit Delete.

Windows XP 2000.  (I tried back spacing them, to no avail.  Also, you
cannot really highlite them, you can click on them and the curser will
change shapes so you can drag it, but you can't highlight it and then
hit delete).

You can certainly highlight using Office 2000, I've just done it.

Dunno about XP.

Seems you *should* be able to highlight it, but sometimes you can't.
This has happened to me too. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it
doesn't. I have saved the document and re-booted. Then the line
becomes delete-able! (I thought this was just one of those strange
things MY computer does at times.)

Two other ways:

1: Highlight the good stuff and save to another doc. OR

2: Undo the last entries and then bang in a few blank lines; scroll
back to where you want your whatsits and try again.

I use Windows XP as well.  What I do is move my mouse over the line
until it changes into the crosshairs.  I can then right-click and a
popup menu appears that allows me to choose to delete  the line. 
Also, in the Tools-Autocorrect menu you can customize or turn off the
Autocorrect and Autoformat features.  Borders can be turned on and off
in the Autocorrect menu by clicking on the Autoformat As You Type tab
and unchecking Borders.