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How to Insert a Nonbreaking EN Dash on Mac

Anonymous
2023-02-15T20:40:34+00:00

How do I insert a non-breaking en Dash on Word for Mac? There are plenty of instruction on how to do it on the peecee.

1–3 should not break as

1–

3

*********

On the peecee you can stop a break by inserting "No width optional non break"

https://erinwrightwriting.com/nonbreaking-dash-in-microsoft-word/

That is not available on Mac.

In Indesign, you can specify a range of characters that will not break.

Sadly, word does funny breaks that defy accepted punctuation uses.

"J-1 Visa"

improperly breaks as

"J-

Visa"

At least that problem can be solved with a nonbreaking hyphen.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | MacOS

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  1. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 434.8K Reputation points
    2023-02-16T15:47:18+00:00

    These are not non-breaking dashes which is what the OP is asking about.

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  2. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 434.8K Reputation points
    2023-02-15T22:14:51+00:00

    Have you actually tested any of what you're suggesting?

    Please document this & provide screen shots of the dialog windows you're referring to. I find that nothing in your reply works.

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  3. John Korchok 231.4K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-02-16T21:15:01+00:00

    To duplicate the instructions that you found on Erin Wright's page in Word for Mac, please follow these steps:

    1. Insert an En dash using the Word Symbol dialog
    2. Choose Edit>Emoji's & Symbols
    3. In the search field, type or paste U+FEFF
    4. The emoji dialog will display a light blue highlighted area. This represents the No Width Non Break character.
    5. Double-click on the blue area to insert the character in Word.
    6. Select both the En dash and the No Width Non Break character and add it to AutoText to make it easier to use next time.
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  4. Anonymous
    2023-02-15T22:29:10+00:00

    Unfortunately, this is a formal document that requires correct dash/hyphen usage. I may have to go back at the end and manually justify.

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  5. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 434.8K Reputation points
    2023-02-15T22:22:34+00:00

    AFAICT there is no specific keystroke for this. It would have to be entered as a normal en dash preceded & followed by a No Width Joiner {aka, non -breaking 0 width space]. If you need to do much of this you could select the inserted characters, create an AutoText Item & assign a shortcut combo to that.

    IMO, unless you're under mandate to use that configuration I'd suggest just using a non-breaking hyphen. The key assignment for that already exists: Shift+Command+-.

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