How To Remove obj in WordPress

How To Remove obj in WordPress

Learn how to remove obj in WordPress.

Are you a WordPress user?

If you’re like me, the answer is yes.

With so many of us being WordPress users there’s a high chance you’ve come across this issue!

Has this happened to you?

You’ve planned, researched and written your post.

Writing a post has taken time, be it one hour or a few.

You copy it from your personal text editor into your chosen WordPress editor.

Hit copy for the title and paste it in and you see a strange symbol?!

The “obj in a box” has appeared.

 

This:

 

It’s not only frustrating but I’m sure you want to know how to get rid of it – fast!

Panic not!

It’s more of an irritant than an issue.

To be clear, this issue isn’t purely a WordPress Titles issue.

That’s just what I’m covering/fixing in this post!

If you see the same issue happening anywhere else, try the methods listed below. 

They should work even if your issue is on Facebook/Twitter etc.

 

What is the “obj” symbol?

You can see it in the first line of this post.

It pains me but I left it in on purpose to show what can happen.

This obj in a box appears most often when text is copied over that WordPress doesn’t understand.

It’s used as a placeholder for a symbol/object or image it either thinks should be there but isn’t, or one that it doesn’t know how to render.

Similar to seeing a � or some iPhone emojis if you’re on android etc!

(Don’t worry if there was no initial symbol in your text, it’s just that WordPress thinks there is.)

If you have copied in from a rich text editor like Microsoft Word, this is a common issue.

It basically means something has gotten lost in translation between the different text editors. 

Annoying?

Yes.

Easy fix?

Also yes.

Need to panic?

No lol.

 

Why does obj in a box appear in WordPress?

It’s actually somewhat of a mystery!

While we can pinpoint when it pops up most of the time, it has been known to appear seemingly on its own.

It mostly happens as the WordPress Editor isn’t quite in sync with your own text editor.

If WordPress is confused/can’t work out the symbol/element you are copying over, obj appears.

Even if it looks like all you are copying is plain text into WordPress, the pesky little obj in a box may still appear.

You copy text over, something goes wrong in the middle and you end up with this…

Another reason could be if you have an emoji in the title, or a non-standard symbol. 

Anything that WordPress doesn’t recognise will cause that obj box to pop up.

 

 

Can obj in a box cause issues?

In theory not really, it’s just not aesthetically pleasing.

Definitely better to remove it before continuing with any other editing.

Where you do have to be careful though is if that pesky obj in a box also finds its way into the URL!

We will talk about that in a minute.

 

How to Remove obj In a Box in a WordPress Title

There’s a few things you can do here.

First is to remove the obj in a box from your WordPress Post Title.

It sometimes won’t let you delete it, but you can backspace over it to make it disappear.

As mentioned above, the issue comes from text (usually a title) being copied into WordPress.

The second option is to cut the full title (using Ctrl + A in the title field) and paste it into something like Notepad.

Once it’s been pasted into Notepad (or similar), you can then copy and paste the title back into WordPress! 

Option 3 is to remove the title and type the title out again!

This option is often the one I go for due to sheer convenience, but any of the above will work.

There is a 4th option but I always forget this one exists so never use it lol.

The 4th option is to paste it in by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + V if you’re on a Windows computer and CMD + SHIFT + V on a Mac computer.

The last option that isn’t really an option is to avoid it popping up in the first place.

I now type out all my titles to make sure the obj in a box symbol is nowhere to be seen!

(Option 3 is the one I use if I forget and copy it straight over though!)

 

How to Remove the obj Box in a WordPress URL?

Removing the obj in a box in a URL is very similar to removing it from a title.

This one is a little more of a faff to re-type out, so I would recommend either;

Pasting it in by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + V if you’re on a Windows computer and CMD + SHIFT + V on a Mac computer.

Or, pasting into Notepad (or similar) and then copying in from there.

Never had obj appear from Notepad so you should be safe there! 

 

What Happens If The obj in a Box Appears in a Blog post?

From experience – this isn’t likely.

Or I should say, it’s less likely.

It may still happen if it can’t read a certain emoji or symbol, but this should be easily removed.

If you had a post full of the obj in a box it may take some time to edit/fix.

If this was the case I would recommend going back to your original editor and taking out excess emojis at this point.

You could copy your whole post into Notepad but the formatting may disappear! 

It’s a lot more likely to pop up in blog post titles and URLs though so don’t worry about this too much!

Hopefully that’s helped you learn how to remove obj in WordPress.

Now if the obj in a box shows up, you have a quick and easy way to fix it!

If you find any other ways around it, be sure to share it in the comments!

Speak soon!

 

 

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