Consistent Spacing

There is an unwritten rule in typesetting that there should only be one space after the end of a sentence. This provides the best visual appearance on a printed page, particularly when using proportional typefaces. The problem is that it is easy to add additional spaces at the end of a sentence without even realizing it. The following VBA macro, CheckSpaces, is a tool you can use to double-check the end of your sentences:

Sub CheckSpaces()
    Call MakeChanges("Normal", ".")
    Call MakeChanges("Normal", "!")
    Call MakeChanges("Normal", ":")
End Sub

Sub MakeChanges(StyName As String, PuncMark As String)
    Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
    Selection.Find.ClearFormatting
    Selection.Find.Style = ActiveDocument.Styles(StyName)
    Selection.Find.Replacement.ClearFormatting
    With Selection.Find
        .Text = PuncMark & "   "
        .Replacement.Text = PuncMark & " "
        .Forward = True
        .Wrap = wdFindContinue
        .Format = True
    End With
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
    Selection.Find.Text = PuncMark & "  "
    Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
End Sub

CheckSpaces will only take extra spaces out of paragraphs formatted with the Normal style. This ensures you won't mess up formatting in tables or other design elements where you may want extra spaces after periods. If you want to change the type of punctuation searched for, or search in different style paragraphs, add additional calls to MakeChanges after the fourth line in the macro.