Diff in document size for hard space vs space

[Lugubrious]

I've recently heard some garbage going around a document
processing office regarding the use of hard spaces and
hyphens versus the use of standard hyphens and spaces.
They maintain that the hard space takes more memory, risks
document corruption, and impairs performance of Word if
used too frequently in a long (+100 page) document. I
think they're out of their minds. They may be thinking of
graphics (paste special as picture rather than drawing
object). Is there any truth to this?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

A nonbreaking space or hyphen is just a font character like any other. I
can't imagine that it requires more storage space. What someone may have
heard and gotten the wrong end of is that a nonbreaking space is of a fixed
size. In ragged-right text, this is immaterial, but in justified text, you
may notice a significant difference between a nonbreaking space and the
normal spaces, which have been stretched to fill the line.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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[Jay Freedman]

I've recently heard some garbage going around a document
processing office regarding the use of hard spaces and
hyphens versus the use of standard hyphens and spaces.
They maintain that the hard space takes more memory, risks
document corruption, and impairs performance of Word if
used too frequently in a long (+100 page) document. I
think they're out of their minds. They may be thinking of
graphics (paste special as picture rather than drawing
object). Is there any truth to this?

None whatsoever. Hard spaces and hyphens are single characters (ASCII 160
and 30, respectively) like any other -- the only difference is in how Word
interprets them.