How to Check for Hard Returns in Your Manuscript

This article will guide you on how to check for excessive or unnecessary hard returns in your manuscript.

Make sure to check for unnecessary or excessive hard returns in your manuscript before you submit it for design.

In the main body of the manuscript, the texts should automatically flow from one line to the next and from one page to the next. Please press Enter only at the end of each paragraph or line of poetry. Pressing Enter to move the cursor to the next line or page (known as a hard return) in the middle of a sentence or paragraph will cause spacing problems when your manuscript is formatted into its final book size. 

In order to check for hard returns in the Word document, click on the paragraph symbol in the toolbar. This will make the hard returns in the document appear.

Remember, if the hard returns are at the end of a paragraph or line of poetry, you can leave them alone. We are only trying to fix accidental ones as shown in the image below: