APA Style requires only one space after a period...

[Guest]

APA Style requires only one space after a period. After being a touch typist for many years, I find it difficult to remember only one space after a period, since I was taught to include two spaces

It seems like the auto correct feature should be able to do this, but when I tried to add it as an auto correct item, it won't let me. I can add other auto-correct items, so I know I am doing that part correctly

Is auto-correct the best way to do this? Any ideas suggestion would be appreciated. Feel free to email at the address (e-mail address removed)

 

[Jezebel]

Autocorrect is a nuisance for dealing with punctuation, periods in
particular, because they get used in so many other contexts (like within
numbers). You could record a macro where you search for period plus white
space (.^w) and replace with period space.

In any case, this is a good habit to break. Double space after a period is
not appropriate with proportional space fonts.

APA Style requires only one space after a period. After being a touch

typist for many years, I find it difficult to remember only one space after
a period, since I was taught to include two spaces.

It seems like the auto correct feature should be able to do this, but when

I tried to add it as an auto correct item, it won't let me. I can add other
auto-correct items, so I know I am doing that part correctly.

Is auto-correct the best way to do this? Any ideas suggestion would be

appreciated. Feel free to email at the address (e-mail address removed)

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the macro tip, but I was looking for something that is a little more automatic and foolproof.

 

[Graham Mayor]

Thanks for the macro tip, but I was looking for something that is a
little more automatic and foolproof.

As Jezebel has said, automatic we can't do, but foolproof?
The following macro will fix this error. Add the macro code to normal.dot
and assign either a keyboard shortcut or toolbar button to it. Run it as
often as you like. It acts almost instantly on the full document. See
http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm

Sub FixSpaces()
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = "(. )[ ]{1,}"
.Replacement.Text = "\1"
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = False
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
End Sub


--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site www.mvps.org/word
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[Guest]

Thanks, that works! Is there anyway to add that macro so that it automatically runs whenever I print or save? I'm afraid I will forget to run it before saving and printing

That would make it foolproof, at least for me!

 

[Graham Mayor]

Thanks, that works! Is there anyway to add that macro so that it
automatically runs whenever I print or save? I'm afraid I will
forget to run it before saving and printing.

That would make it foolproof, at least for me!

Add the extra line and rename as follows, which will run automatically on
save. I recommend that you don't do it on print as a lot of changes will
reformat your document in a manner that may require further editing. I would
prefer also that you ran the original macro separately, but at least this
one will give you the opportunity to review the changes.

Sub FileSave()
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
With Selection.Find
.Text = "(. )[ ]{1,}"
.Replacement.Text = "\1"
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = False
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchWildcards = True
End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
ActiveDocument.Save
End Sub

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

Thanks for the macro tip, but I was looking for something that is a little
more automatic and foolproof.

In addition to macro solutions, just FYI, you can set Tools | Options,
Spelling & Grammar tab to flag 2 spaces between sentences as an error, and
then clicking Change will fix it at the end. In my version, you need to
click on the Settings button from that dialog, near "Writing Style" to
access the setting. Try Help if it isn't as evident in your version.

DM