thanks for the reply. i have th efollowing code in my main template:
<div class=”post-body”>
<div>
<?php if($post->post_excerpt) { ?>
<div class=”post-excerpt”><?php the_excerpt(); ?></div>
<?php } ?>
<?php the_content_limit($limitchars, “”); ?>
</div>
</div>
do i simply need to change all instances of the_excerpt to the_content ?