Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Understanding Hyphens and Dashes.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 20, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021
Word supports the use of both hyphens and dashes. Actually, it supports three types of hyphens and two types of dashes. It is important to understand how Word handles each of these as they can affect the appearance of your document.
The foregoing items describe the behavior and purpose of each of the hyphens and dashes used in Word. If you are using a dash or hyphen and it does not behave as indicated here, then you may be using the wrong type. For instance, if a word will not break as you expect between two lines, you may be using a non-breaking hyphen instead of one of the other types.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11025) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Understanding Hyphens and Dashes.
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2023-05-22 15:18:27
Malcolm Patterson
Unicode offers even more. Particularly useful: the figure dash.
2023-05-22 11:00:19
Willa Bundy
Another great article. Thanks!
2023-05-22 09:56:03
Andrew
The width of em dashes depend on the font. While en dashes do seem to approximate the width of a lower case n in the fonts I use, the em-dash seems to vary from the width of a lowercase m (e.g., Arial Black) all the way up to double the width of the en dash (e.g., Times New Roman).
Andy.
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