Microsoft Word 2007/2008

Hyphenation Options

Word provides four options for controlling how and when hyphenation occurs. This document will review each option.

NOTE: The best practice is to hyphenate your document after you have finished writing and editing. Later additions and deletions of text may affect hyphen placement.

Hyphenating Automatically
Hyphenating Manually
Inserting an Optional Hyphen
Inserting a Non-Breaking Hyphen

Hyphenating Automatically

Word allows you to automatically hyphenate your document through the Hyphenation dialog box. This option is useful for hyphenating completed documents and documents in progress.

Windows:

From the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click HYPHENATION» select Automatic

Macintosh:

From the Tools menu, select Hyphenation...
The Hyphenation dialog box appears.
Select Automatically hyphenate document
Click OK

Setting Hyphenation Options

The Hyphenation Options dialog box allows you to engage/disengage automatic hyphenation, allow words in all caps to be hyphenated, designate the Hyphenation zone, and designate the number of consecutive hyphens in your document. The hyphenation zone is the distance between a word and the right margin. By adjusting the Hyphenation zone you can designate how close a word comes to the right margin before it is hyphenated. By limiting consecutive hyphens you can prevent occurrences in which many lines of your document end in hyphens. This is relevant to personal and aesthetic choice.

Windows: From the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click HYPHENATION» select Hyphenation Options...
Macintosh: From the Tools menu, select Hyphenation...
The Hyphenation dialog box appears.
To indicate the amount of space to leave between the end of the last word in a line and the right margin, in the Hyphenation zone text box, use the nudge buttons to select or type the desired setting
HINTS:
To reduce the number of hyphens, make the hyphenation zone wider.
To allow more hyphens, make the hyphenation zone narrower.
To indicate the number of consecutive lines that can be hyphenated, in the Limit consecutive hyphens to text box, use the nudge buttons to select or type the desired setting
NOTE: In some documents, the number of consecutively hyphenated lines should be limited. Particularly in documents with narrow columns, consecutive hyphenation can cause sentences to look fragmented.
Click OK
Automatic hyphenation and any additional alterations are set.

Hyphenating Manually

If you would like to make hyphenation decisions on a case-by-case basis, select manual hyphenation. Word will search the document for words to hyphenate and then ask whether to include a hyphen and where to position it.

To access the Manual Hyphenation dialog box,
Windows: From the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click HYPHENATION » select Manual
Macintosh: From the Tools menu, select Hyphenation..., then click MANUAL...
The Manual Hyphenation dialog box appears with the first instance of a possible hyphenation found in your document.
NOTE: Word will suggest grammatically correct hyphenation divisions.
To set the hyphen in another location, in the Hyphenate at text box, place the cursor in the desired location within the word
NOTES:
The horizontal line shows where the line would break the word, so the chosen hyphenation must be before that horizontal line. If hyphenation after the vertical line is chosen, the word will not be broken.
To accept the hyphenation, click YES
If you do not want to hyphenate the word, click NO
Word locates the next word you may want to hyphenate.
To cancel the manual hyphenation process, click CANCEL

Inserting an Optional Hyphen

Inserting an optional hyphen allows you to control where to break if a word or phrase falls at the end of a line. Otherwise (i.e., the word or phrase is in the middle or at the beginning of a line) the optional hyphen does not appear in the printed document.

Place your cursor where you want to insert the optional hyphen
Windows: Press [Ctrl] + [ - ] (hyphen)
Macintosh: Press [Command] + [ - ] (hyphen)
The optional hyphen is inserted.

Inserting a Non-Breaking Hyphen

Inserting a non-breaking hyphen will prevent a hyphenated word or phrase from breaking at the end of a line. This is used to keep a word or phrase together (e.g., UW-Eau Claire).

Place your cursor where you want to insert the non-breaking hyphen
Windows: Press [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [ - ] (hyphen)
Macintosh: Press [Command] + [ - ] (hyphen)
The non-breaking hyphen is inserted.