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Word keyboard shortcut for nonbreaking hyphen has changed?

Anonymous
2024-08-23T14:59:25+00:00

Who are the buffoons at Microsoft that thought it would be a good idea to change the keyboard shortcut for a nonbreaking hyphen? There are probably millions of Word users who have developed muscle memory for using Ctrl + Shift + - to insert a non-breaking hyphen. Why would those at Microsoft think it's a good idea to change the shortcut. How can we get Microsoft to change it back with an update instead of users having to manually change it back?

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  1. Suzanne S Barnhill 277.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-09-07T11:30:39+00:00

    Apparently someone thought it would make sense to use a hyphen (like a minus sign) to contrast to Ctrl++ for Superscript. But you can reassign these shortcuts. Go to File | Options | Customize Ribbon and click on Customize... beside "Keyboard shortcuts." In the dialog, select Common Symbols and scroll to Nonbreaking Hyphen. Press the desired keys (you'll see the shortcut is currently assigned to Subscript) and click Assign.

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    Note that the display above is misleading. When you actually press Ctrl+Shift+-, Word displays Ctrl+Shift+_; if it displayed Ctrl+_, this would be reasonable, and that is what it actually does in Word 2003. Apparently the change was introduced with the Ribbon (I can no longer test in Word 2007, but Word 2010 uses the new display).

    You'll then have to go to Home Tab | Subscript to reassign the old shortcut, which has been reassigned to ViewZoomIn. I'm not sure who thought we needed these new zooming shortcuts, but, like the reassigned ones for Copy/PasteFormat, the change has been unpopular.

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-10-25T15:30:02+00:00

    Alt + Shift + _ (So "Alt" instead of "Control").

    30+ people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Anonymous
    2024-10-29T11:19:03+00:00

    Bless you, woman. I mean that with my whole heart.

    9 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Stefan Blom 338.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-08-23T17:02:14+00:00

    I agree that it is a bad idea to change shortcuts that have been around for years. I recommend that you post feedback using Help > Feedback in Word.

    EDIT: For instructions on changing the shortcut, use the Customize Keyboard dialog box. See Suzanne's reply in this thread.

    7 people found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2024-09-07T09:58:43+00:00

    I have exactly the same issue. Ctrl + Shift + - now moves the selected text to subscript. I don't even know what is the new shortcut for the nonbreaking hyphen. :(

    5 people found this answer helpful.
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