Non‐breakable space justification in Word 2016

Question

I heard that fixed width of non‐breakable space was removed in Word 2013, yet I have it in Word 2016. It means that non‐breakable space is not commiting to justifying rules and looks like a garbage while using justification. Is this a bug or a feature?

Answer 1

Correction: Non-breaking spaces (i.e. ASCII 160) in Word 2013 & later have a variable width; in Word 2010 & earlier they have a variable width. Your document's justification will still work, but the results will vary according to which Word version you're using and, if it's Word 2013 & later, whether the document was created in an earlier version or with compatibility set for Word 2010 & earlier.

If the document:

• is opened in Word 2010 & earlier, the non-breaking spaces will have a fixed width regardless of the version the document was created in;

• is opened in Word 2013 & later and the document was created in an earlier version or with compatibility set for Word 2010 & earlier, the non-breaking spaces will have a fixed width; and

• is opened in Word 2013 & later and the document was created in Word 2013 & later using the Word 2013 & later defaults, the non-breaking spaces will have a variable width.

Answer 2

Non-breaking spaces (i.e. ASCII 160) in Word 2013 & later have a fixed width. Unless you're using non-breaking spaces alone, your document justification should still work.

…But the „fixed width” means that its width is constant, therefore not changing width with justification. There’s an example in Polish:

Whole text is justified, yet non‐breakable spaces (degree symbols, ASCII 160) don’t commit to justification rules. They have constant width, whereas ordinary spaces change their width as they are supposed to do. The issue is clearly visible in the second line of this example. I’ve read that this adverse behaviour was fixed in Office 2013, but I have it in Word 2016 MSO (16.0.4498.1000) 64‐bit.

Answer 3

That's the whole point of them being fixed-width - which is the same as the characters that make up the words in your screenshot. If you want a variable-width non-breaking space, you could use the Narrow No-Break Space character (see Insert|Symbol>Unicode 202F). You could even create a keyboard shortcut for this (IIRC, Ctrl-Alt-Space is normally free).

Answer 4

That's the whole point of them being fixed-width - which is the same as the characters that make up the words in your screenshot. If you want a variable-width non-breaking space, you could use the Narrow No-Break Space character (see Insert|Symbol>Unicode 202F). You could even create a keyboard shortcut for this (IIRC, Ctrl-Alt-Space is normally free).

That’s unfortunate. Do you know why it works like that? I can’t even imagine why anybody would want to have non‐breaking spaces with constant width. If they have variable‐width property they behave in every context – not just without justified text.

Answer 5

That’s unfortunate. Do you know why it works like that?

For compliance with international standards on how the character should function...