MS office - hyphens

[joko]

sometimes when i am typing and i add a hyphen or dash, i get 2 different types - a short one and a long one (not the underscore)...

i cant seem to change them once in place and on a form it can look sloppy to have them look different - so i have to copy and paste the one i want over the top.

can anyone tell me why and how they come out differently and how i can control them and change them to one type?


thanks

[Aquariel]

If you go into Tools > Autocorrect Options > Autoformat As You Type, there is an option there which says "Hyphens (--) with dash (-)" - untick the box. Also untick the same box in the "Autoformat" tab. That should get rid of them.

[Kiki-frog]

It's annoying, isn't it? If you want to standardise with the longer kind, i.e. – instead of -, then once you have finished your document, do a Search and Replace with - in the Search box, then in the Replace box hold down the Alt key and type 0150 on the Alt keyboard at the same time. Alt 0150 gives –. There is also an Alt code for making short hyphens, but I can't remember what it is at the moment.

[Kiki-frog]

Actually Aquariel's advice is much better. Forget what I said!

[joko]

I do do that sometimes when i need to do a lot of them Kiki, but i have ended up replacing all hyphens with : or something just so i dont have to bother

i have done that too now aquariel so hopefully problem solved

thanks

[rhythmcrazy]

After typing and getting both the long hyphen/dash and the short hyphen/dash, maybe you can just copy and paste the hyphen you want (whether it is the long one or the short one).

[rhythmcrazy]

While you type, as soon as you type the hyphen, it comes out short, but as you carry on typing, you'll make a space after the hyphen, then start typing another word. And as soon as you type the space after the 2nd word, it will change to a long hyphen. That's how it happens.