Non-Breaking Spaces & Non-Breaking Hyphens in Word

 Oct 09, 2015

Most of the time we separate words with a space. But occasionally we use a hyphen. There are also En Dashes and Em Dashes, but let’s not overcomplicate things!

When we get to the end of a line in Word, the cursor moves to the next line and our sentence continues. But what if we don’t want the two words separated. For example:

img1

Notice how “New Horizons” is on two lines? To fix this, we can insert a Non-breaking space. To do this, instead of typing a normal space, we would press Ctrl + Shift + Spacebar. It would then look like this:

img2

The same principle applies to hyphens between words. For example:

img3

The paragraph above looks better without separating “non-breaking”. To insert a Non-breaking hyphen, press Ctrl + Shift + Hyphen. For example:

img4

If you forget the keyboard shortcuts to insert these two characters, you can also go to the Insert tab on the Ribbon and choose Symbol and then More Symbols­­. Then click on the Special Characters tab and you’ll find them.

For more information, take a look at New Horizons' Microsoft Word training courses.

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About the Author:

Ben Kirk  

With over 16 years of experience working as a Desktop Applications specialist for a number of large education services providers, Ben is one of New Horizons most skilled and dynamic instructors. With his Advanced Diploma of Business Skills alongside his practical experience and expertise, Ben is able to provide insight and guidance to students at all skill levels across the entire Microsoft Office suite.

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