Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 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: Turning Off Automatic Hyphenation for Parts of a Document.

Turning Off Automatic Hyphenation for Parts of a Document

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 21, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365


1

Malcolm has a long document that contains a novel. The document uses justified text and automatic hyphenation. A few chapters in the novel consist of letters supposedly written by one or other of the characters. Malcolm needs to switch off automatic hyphenation for those few chapters and is wondering how that can be done.

There are a couple of ways you can accomplish this task. For long documents, however, the best solution is to use styles. Define some styles that specify how you want the "letters" from your characters to appear. As part of the definition, make sure that you display the Line and Page Breaks tab of the Paragraph dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Line and Page Breaks tab of the Paragraph dialog box.

Note that there is a check box named Don't Hyphenate. Select this check box, and Word won't hyphenate any paragraph that uses the style. With the style defined, all you need to do is apply it to those paragraphs that make up the letters.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12269) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Turning Off Automatic Hyphenation for Parts of a Document.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Cascading Document Windows

Want the various documents you have open to be cascaded on-screen so you can organize them easier? The capability is ...

Discover More

Embedding an Excel Chart in a Word Document

Word and Excel usually work pretty well together. This means that you can easily paste charts from Excel into your Word ...

Discover More

Switching Editing Location

Excel allows you to edit the contents of a cell in two places--"the cell itself or in the Formula bar. If you want to ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Deleting Styles

As documents evolve, so do your needs for various styles. You may create new ones and, invariably, old ones need to be ...

Discover More

Changing the Style Gallery

The style gallery appears on the Home tab of the ribbon. You may want to modify how Word displays styles within the ...

Discover More

Deleting a Large Number of Styles

Styles are a fantastic tool for formatting documents. As you work with documents created by others, you may want to get ...

Discover More
Subscribe

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.

What is 6 - 0?

2023-12-14 23:14:00

Kenneth

This article assumes you know how to get to the Paragraph dialogue box.


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.

Videos
Subscribe

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

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.