No-width optional break

[rcuswalk]

I'm using Word 2007. In Insert>Symbols>MoreSymbols>SpecialCharacters, it
shows that I should be able to insert a no-width optional break by pressing
Ctrl+space.

However, when I use this combination, it changes the language to Arabic and
seems to insert an invisible character (that does not act like a no-width
optional break). If I press Backspace to remove this character and the
language change, I can then press Ctrl+space and it will insert the no-width
optional break like it's supposed to.

Does anyone know why I'm experiencing this behavior and to fix it?

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

Ctrl-Spacebar is supposed to be one of Word's keyboard shortcuts for
"Clear Character Formatting," but it is overridden by Windows -- where
it's a command to switch to Chinese, not Arabic! (Hmm, if I uninstall
Chinese, will it become the Arabic command?)

I'm not sure what you mean by "no-width optional break" -- perhaps
Unicode 0082, a control character labeled "BREAK PERMITTED HERE"? That
doesn't seem to be enterable in Word, but it's cross referenced to
200B "ZERO WIDTH SPACE" (which can be typed in Word but has no default
keyboard shortcut assigned to it -- you can give it one via Insert
Symbol).

 

[Peter Jamieson]

FWIW "No-width optional break" is a description in Word's
Insert-Symbol->Special characters. When you insert it, you get a Unicode
0x200C "ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER" which does seem to work roughly as its
description says, at least in the version of Word 2007 I am using here.

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

 

[Peter T. Daniels]

"ZERO-WIDTH NON-JOINER" is intended for languages like Arabic and you
use it when for some reason you want two Arabic letters to be adjacent
but not to assume the form used in writing a word, i.e. joined up.
(Likewise in writing Hindi, Bengali, etc.) Since rcuswalk has Arabic
enabled, that may be why it's there -- and it's good to know: I have
always entered it using the Unicode code.