Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. 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: Inserting a Non-Breaking Hyphen.

Inserting a Non-Breaking Hyphen

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 28, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365

When Word calculates line length and wraps text to the next line, it tries to break the line at a space or a hyphen—a dash. Sometimes, however, you may not want Word to break a line at a dash. For instance, dashes are used in telephone numbers, and you might not want a line to break in the middle of a telephone number.

The answer to this dilemma is to use non-breaking hyphens instead of regular dashes when you don't want Word to break a line at the hyphen. To do this, hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys as you type the dash (this is the same as typing Ctrl and an underscore). Word will then not break the line at that point.

You can also insert a non-breaking hyphen by following these steps:

Display the Insert tab of the ribbon.
Click the Symbol tool (in the Symbols group) and then click More Symbols. Word displays the Symbol dialog box.
Click on the Special Characters tab. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Special Characters tab of the Symbol dialog box.

Highlight the Nonbreaking Hyphen character.
Click on Insert.
Close the dialog box by clicking on Cancel.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (29) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Inserting a Non-Breaking Hyphen.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

AutoText Unavailable in Headers and Footers

When you are creating headers and footers for your document, you might want to use some of your AutoText entries. What if ...

Discover More

Picking Different Random Numbers from a Range

It is not unusual to need to select two random items from a list. There are a couple of ways you can approach the task; ...

Discover More

Handling Long Lines in Address Labels

When you print address labels, you only have a limited amount of horizontal space for each line of the label. If your ...

Discover More

Discover the Power of Microsoft Office This beginner-friendly guide reveals the expert tips and strategies you need to skyrocket your productivity and use Office 365 like a pro. Mastering software like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint is essential to be more efficient and advance your career. Simple lessons guide you through every step, providing the knowledge you need to get started. Check out Microsoft Office 365 For Beginners today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Generating a List of Dates

When creating tracking documents in Word, you may need to come up with a series of dates in the document. You can type ...

Discover More

Capitalizing the Word "I"

The first-person, singular pronoun "I" should always be capitalized, unless you are exercising poetic license. Word may ...

Discover More

Deleting a Range of Pages

Need to delete a range of pages out of the middle of your document? It's easy to do using editing techniques you already ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 3 + 2?

2025-05-20 11:10:09

Ted

Ctrl-Shift+_ (Underscore) change my text to subscript, but thanks for the reminder on how to find the "Special Characters" list.

I used the "Search" (Ctrl-F) function to pull up the "Find and Replace" menu then looked under "Special" to get the keystrokes I needed.

Thanks!

2025-03-06 16:30:40

Larry Pierson

I'm glad Allen mentioned both ways to insert a non-breaking hyphen in word, because starting with word 2024 and the latest versions of word 365, the CTRL+SHIFT+hyphen option no longer works. At least, not on the versions my company uses.

2023-09-12 10:55:29

Travis

Thanks, yes, @Tomek. I think the confusion comes from "Microsoft 365" Word coming in multiple current versions.

On https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/word-features-comparison-web-vs-desktop-3e863ce3-e82c-4211-8f97-5b33c36c55f8#:~:text=Word%20for%20the%20web%20supports,ability%20to%20Embed%20excel%20tables , Microsoft refers to "Word Web" and "Word Desktop".

On https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/business/compare-all-microsoft-365-business-products , we see Microsoft refer to "Web and mobile versions of Word, ..." vs "Desktop versions of Word, ...". (Note the "Business Basic" user will only get the Web Word experience.)

Given all that, "Microsoft 365 Word" is an ambiguous term relating to multiple products with different feature sets. It's important to differentiate Web or Desktop or Mobile. This tip says, "This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021". To be more accurate and thus helpful, it should say, "Word Desktop in Microsoft 365". If I'd seen that --- I did read that statement about what this tip applied to -- then I'd have known right away not to expect this Tip to work in Word Web in Microsoft 365.

2023-09-11 11:51:44

Paul Stregevsky

I use a nonbreaking hyphen, usually to prevent a coefficient (like 14) from separating from its term (like "plan") in a phrase like "a 14-point plan". Three-finger shortcuts are clunky, so I've mapped this special character to a two-finger shortcut: Ctrl+hyphen. I've done likewise for a nonbreaking space (Ctrl+spacebar).

2023-09-10 18:02:39

Tomek

@Travis:
Functionality of Word in a web browser is very limited. The tips posted on this site generally apply to the desktop app. For example, Web app cannot run macros and is missing a lot of other commands and options. As you observed, there are only 92 symbols available in the symbol dialog box, and there are no special characters. In the desktop app you can select any character from any font installed on your computer in addition to a number of special characters.

2023-09-08 10:59:29

Travis

This does not seem accurate for Word in Microsoft 365 today (2023-09-08). The Symbol dialog has no "Special Characters" tab. I'll attach a screenshot of what I see today in Edge. (see Figure 1 below)

Figure 1. Microsoft 365 Word Symbol Dialog in Edge Browser

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.