Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Sticking with the Dashes.
As discussed in other issues of WordTips, en dashes and em dashes are "sticky" with the word that they follow, and cannot be made sticky with the word that follows the dash. Thus, if you have two words separated by an em dash, and the combination appears near the end of a line, Word will wrap from one line to the next right after the em dash; you cannot force Word to keep both words and their connecting dash on the same line.
There is one workaround you can use, however. Let's assume that you have two words (first and second) separated by an em dash, as in first—second. If you want these to always be together, follow these steps:
The result is that the field now shows your two words separated by an em dash. The results of the field always appear on a single line, so the words and their dash will always be together. This approach works regardless of the type of dash between the two words.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (3527) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Sticking with the Dashes.
Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2013. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word 2013 Step by Step today!
Word allows you to protect documents that are intended to be used as forms. If you want to convert the form responses ...
Discover MoreAre you developing a form with Word? In some instances it is advantageous to copy whatever is entered in a form field to ...
Discover MoreWhen you use fields to number items within a document, you may want to add some standard text before each field. There ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2018-12-23 15:08:35
P. G. van Dijk
There is another, simpler way to move a dash to the next line. Use the space bar. Click the space bar until the dash jumps to the next line. Make two or three extra clicks to make sure. Of course this works only if the margins have been defined.
2018-12-15 12:08:46
Gil Croome
During my working career (I'm now happily retired), one of the house editorial style manuals that I used mandated that an EM dash should have a space before and after it. While the typesetting was being done in a print shop, we did not have to worry about how the dash was kept attached to the first word -- we just told the typesetter to do it! However, once "typesetting " was done copy editor/author's editor. We had to find a "fix". This as actually very simple, replace the space before the dash with a "hard" (non-breaking) space created with CTRL+SHIFT+SPACE to hold the first word and the dash together.
Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2020 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: 
Comments