Using Non-Breaking Characters

For the most part, when you get to the end of a typed line, you want to let Word do the wrap to a new line automatically. However, when you look at your finished document, you might find that you have a word sticking way out…distractingly way out…on the right margin. This situation frequently becomes an issue with a small word like a or the or with a place name like
Pointe a la Hache. You want to keep the all parts of the place name together as if it were one word.

Another instance when you would want to look at word wrap is for a hyphenated phrase like mother-in-law. The phrase is properly presented without a hanging hyphen at the end of the line; that is, it is presented as a phrase all on the same line. By default, Word doesn’t insert hyphens. When you insert a hyphen, Word treats it as the last character of a whole word.

So what is a writer to do with a hanging word or hyphen? The answer is to insert a non-breaking character. Using a non-breaking character between words or as hyphens causes Word to treat the entire phrase as if it were one word. Since the one word is too long for the end of the line, Word wraps it to a new line automatically.

For a Hanging Word
1. Type the word—for example, a or the.
2. Hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys, and press the spacebar.
3. Release the keys.
4. Type the next word. Word moves the entire phrase to the next line.

Note: For existing text, highlight the space after the word at the end of the line, and then hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys, and press the spacebar.

If you turn on the hidden codes, you’ll see a superscript circle between the non-breaking words instead of the dot that usually marks a space. To remove the non-breaking character, highlight the circle and press the spacebar. To see hidden codes, click the following button on the Home tab:


For a Hanging Hyphen
1. Type the first word—for example, type mother.
2. Hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys, and type the hyphen.
3. Release the keys.
4. Type the next word—for example, type in.
5. Hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys, and type the hyphen.
6. Release the keys.
7. Type the last word—for example, type law. Word moves the entire phrase to the next line.

Note: For existing text, highlight the hyphen, and then hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys, and type the hyphen.