Replace 2 spaces between words with 1 space

[Studebaker]

I have a large document which has words within the sentences with 2 spaces
between them rather than 1 space.
I know I need to use Find and Replace. I've tried hitting the spacebar twice
in the Find What box and in the Replace With box hitting the spacebar once.
That doesn't work.
I saw on the internet where you can type in the Find What box {2,} and in
the Replace With box just hit the spacebar once. Check "Use Wildcards". That
doesn't work either.
I'm using 2003 and have track changes turned off and I'm viewing the doc as
it would look as Final not Final Showing Markup.
Does any know what else I can do?

Thank you!

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

If track changes is turned off, then what you're trying--two spaces in Find
what: and one space in Replace with: should work just fine. Note that Use
wildcards should be unchecked when doing that. (You don't need to use the
{2,} construction to do this.)

Does the two spaces/one space Find/Replace work in a new document? I.e., is
it not working only in that one large document? Or is it always not working?

If it's just that one document, I would wonder if perhaps it's corrupted...
or protected against editing (can you do other editing in it?).

 

[Studebaker]

The two spaces/one space Find/Replace does work in a new document. I can
search for a period and 2 spaces and replace with 1 space just fine. I can do
other editing in it, as well. I also have track changes turned off.

I find that I can't have it search through the whole doc no matter what view
I'm in--Final, Final Showing Markup, Original Showing Markup, etc. I can,
however, select paragraphs at a time and find and replace.

My doc is funny, I think, b/c it was converted to Word from a PDF and the
program that did it is kind of strange. I don't know, maybe it's b/c of that
but if it can handle other editing I don't see why the problem.

Thank you for your help. If you have a solution I would appreciate the help;
otherwise, thank you for your suggestions!

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Another possibility is that what look like spaces to you don't look like
spaces to Word.

In that document... replace one of those sets of spaces with by pressing the
spacebar twice. Now try Find/Replace. Does it work on what you typed?

If so, then my guess would be that the other characters aren't really
spaces. Try copying them to the clipboard and pasting them into the Find
what: field, and see if Word will find them now.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com