How to stop converting hyphens to dashes in Word (Mac)

Please disregard reference to Hyphenation settings. It's totally irrelevant & unrelated to this AutoCorrect issue.

The setting in Word> Preferences> AutoCorrect - AutoFormat As You Type should prevent the replacement from being made. If the preference isn't holding there are 2 most common reasons:

1. The software is in need of updates. Have a look in Word> About Microsoft Word to verify that the Version indicated is 16.52 (or higher).
2. The Preferences file is corrupt preventing it from retaining the setting change. Are there any other irregularities which might be attributable to Preference settings?

As a temporary workaround you can use Undo [Command+Z] immediately after a conversion takes place

Hi drdocument：

Thank you for your message in this forum. I am very sympathetic to your experience. At the same time, I am sorry for the inconvenience.

If you want to take the issue a step further, in this scenario:

If you are use the Microsoft for Business, we kindly recommended you can raise a service request in Microsoft 365 admin center, which the support there has the related permission and resource to help you check from the backend and see whether can help to recover the data you did not sync successfully.

If you are use the personal Office, we kindly recommended getting help via this link. There are more experts for helping you. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Hope this will help you.

Tin

Thanks. Deleted prefs. Re-launched Word and un-checked the "Hyphens with dash" box, but the un-checking didn't stick; the box immediately became checked again.

Other ideas?

Since the software is up to date see whether removing the preferences file corrects the issue. First, Quit all Office programs then go to the following location*:

~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences

Delete the com.microsoft.Word.plist file then launch Word & try changing the preference again.

* There are several Library folders. If you're not familiar with getting to the correct one the simplest ways are to either;

• select Go> Go to Folder in Finder to enter that path, or
• hold the Option key while the Go menu is open & select Library.

Thanks. I am on Word ver. 16.52 for Mac.

Unfortunately, when I un-check the "Hyphens with dash" setting in AutoFormat As You Type preferences, the check box immediately re-enables itself (will not stay un-checked).

I posted this question here several years ago after a clean install of Word and someone replied with a fix for the problem, but I forgot it .