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How can I automatically set spaces after colons and semi-colons to 2? There is a way in Spelling and Grammar to set the spaces at the end of a sentence to 2, but I cannot find any way to set the number of spaces after a colon or semi-colon.
I need to make sure that every colon and semi-colon in a document is followed by two spaces. When I type it, I will be trying to remember that, but it is a weird thing to do, so I will probably forget and leave only one space sometimes. It will be difficult to proofread it so painstakingly to catch every one of those errors. I thought of Find/Replace, but replacing every colon + 1 space with colon + 2 spaces will not only fix the colon + 1 space entries, but will also change the previously correct colon + 2 spaces entries to colon + 3 spaces. I guess I could then run another Replace to change the colon + 3 spaces back to colon + 2 spaces, but there must be an easier way.
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Autocorrect is not find / replace. You set it up and type ";" and it is replaced with "; " - there is not option to treat the characters like periods and add a double space but this will get you close.
It is exactly the same unacceptable option that I described in my question in the first place.
You should find that using the setting to require 2 spaces in the Spelling & Grammar preferences will catch the single space following colons & semicolons as well as between sentences. That should suffice for proofing the typed content.
If you want automatic replacement as you type the only solution is AutoCorrect. In Tools> AutoCorrect Options type just a colon in the Replace field, type a colon followed by 2 presses of the space bar in the With field then click the Add button. Repeat the steps for a semicolon. From that point on each colon & semicolon you type will have the "2 spaces" inserted automatically. Note that AutoCorrect will not change any content in the document that was typed before the the items were added.
No, there is no option in Spelling & Grammar preferences to change the spacing after colons and semicolons, and setting it to two spaces between sentences does not catch spacing after semicolons and colons. It works between sentences only.
Yes, what you wrote about Autocorrect is correct. Thank you for that.
Unless you are under some sort of institutional mandate to do so the use of multiple presses of the space bar is something that is best avoided. As Paul pointed out, the practice is a throwback to the typewriter which used fixed-width [monospaced] characters. It was adopted as a means of avoiding crowding of certain character pairs. Virtually all fonts used today employ proportional spacing, so the result is inconsistent & usually presents editing & formatting issues. [One common example is that lines often break between the 2 consecutive spaces.]
If you want additional space it's far better to use the appropriate character, such as an en space or an em space. They are available from the Insert> Advanced Symbol - Special Characters dialog but each can have a keyboard shortcut assigned to it [InsertEnSpace, InsertEmSpace] so they can be inserted from the keyboard. They also can be used in an AutoCorrect item so that when typing a colon or semicolon it is immediately followed by the designated space character.
Hi rjkDL2021,
Autocorrect? Set it up using one space - then just enter 1 space after typing it to get 2.
It could have the same issue as using search and replace (which could be one step using a macro) - if you remember the double space, autocorrect will add a 3rd space.