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Microsoft Word Decrees All High-School IT Teachers Were Wrong: Double Spaces Now Flagged as Typos

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday April 28 2020, @01:58PM   Printer-friendly
from the and-then-they-discovered-  dept.

martyb writes:

Microsoft decrees that all high-school IT teachers were wrong: Double spaces now flagged as typos in Word:

One space good, two spaces bad? (This story appears near the end of the article; scroll down to see it.)

Finally, Microsoft found time to weigh in on the age-old debate of just how many spaces belong after a full stop (or "period"). Thanks to an update, Word will apparently treat two spaces as a typo and festoon a double-spaced document with red, squiggly lines unless told to ignore the rule.

A debate for the ages finally settled. Where do you stand? ⚔️ https://twitter.com/tomwarren/status/1253655739379470338

— Microsoft 365 (@Microsoft365) April 24, 2020

Not everyone is impressed with change; this hack, for example, has fond memories of bashing away on the keys of a typewriter back in the day and slapping the spacebar twice between sentences [...]. It has proven a hard habit to break. Others, such as Jason Howard, senior project manager on the Windows Insider Team, called for a poll on the matter.

@Microsoft365 has thrown down the gauntlet. Apparently #MicrosoftWord will now flag double-spacing between sentences as an error.

Which side will you pick? Choose wisely...

— Jason Howard (@NorthFaceHiker) April 24, 2020

Original Submission

 
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Microsoft Word Decrees All High-School IT Teachers Were Wrong: Double Spaces Now Flagged as Typos | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 139 comments | Search Discussion
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  • (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Tuesday April 28 2020, @06:06PM (8 children)

    by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday April 28 2020, @06:06PM (#987940)
    If only there were some place you could just type in a question and find out the answer to it. Someone should make that.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday April 28 2020, @07:03PM (7 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday April 28 2020, @07:03PM (#987960) Journal
    You ought to try that exercise yourself. Of the top three articles for How do I get two spaces in word [duckduckgo.com], two were about removing extra spaces, and only one on topic. From the Microsoft support site [microsoft.com] itself:

    There isn't any way to do this automatically in any version of Word, and in any case it's not recommended unless you are using a monospaced font (such as Courier New). What you can do in most versions of Word (and I assume this includes Starter) is this:

    1. Click on File and then Options.
    2. In the Options window, choose the Proofing tab.
    3. Under "When correcting spelling and grammar in Word," click the Settings button.
    4. Under Require, select "2" for "Spaces required between sentences, then click OK.
    5. Click OK to exit the Options.

    If you have "Check grammar as you type" enabled, I think this will cause instances of a single space after a period to be marked with a wavy green underline. Otherwise, you'll just get a notice when you explicitly run a spelling and grammar check (you must have "Check grammar with spelling" enabled).

    In other words, this will not force Word to do anything; it will just serve as a reminder to you, by flagging places where you have the "wrong" number of spaces.

    • (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Wednesday April 29 2020, @01:41PM (6 children)

      by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday April 29 2020, @01:41PM (#988176)
      Ah, true. I never took into account that people such as yourself are bad at searching.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday April 29 2020, @02:21PM (5 children)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday April 29 2020, @02:21PM (#988188) Journal
        Or the amount of bad and off topic advice on the internets either.

        • (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Wednesday April 29 2020, @03:28PM (4 children)

          by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday April 29 2020, @03:28PM (#988210)
          office 365 1 space 2 spaces after period gets you there on the 2nd result. Maybe they should have classes on using google in grade schools and retirement homes.

          • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday April 29 2020, @03:47PM (1 child)

            by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday April 29 2020, @03:47PM (#988218) Journal
            But that's not a question.

            • (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Wednesday April 29 2020, @04:31PM

              by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday April 29 2020, @04:31PM (#988232)
              office 365 1 space 2 spaces after period? gets you the same results.

          • (Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday April 29 2020, @04:44PM (1 child)

            by VLM (445) on Wednesday April 29 2020, @04:44PM (#988241)

            Speaking of google, MS Office is for boomers, all the kids only use google docs now a days.

            My kids (K12) schools do everything in Google docs because its free and frankly faster and easier to use the MSWord.

            The non-profit I volunteered at used google, everyone uses google, except international megacorporations, most of which have only just completed their Windows 7 desktop rollout.

            • (Score: 2) by EvilSS on Wednesday April 29 2020, @07:21PM

              by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday April 29 2020, @07:21PM (#988304)
              That's because they are kids and Google has spent quite a lot of money marketing Chromebooks and G-suite to schools. They have their hooks pretty deep into the education market. Google Cloud is another one they give sweetheart deals on to education. And I'm sure a company that is primarily funded by advertising and data brokering would love nothing more than to have those kids carry their google habits into the corporate world.