[Joe McGuire]

Lots of stuff that I paste into Word from other sources was written with a
single space after a period (or other puncuation) ending a sentence. All of
these then display with little green marks showing that Word thinks there is
a problem (in this case Word is correct; I have always put 2 spaces after
sentence punctuation, even before Bill Gates got a job). I can then
laborious wade through the entire document and fix each instance one at a
time. Oy!! Is there a setting in Word that will automatically correct that
spacing after punctuation? If not, what sort of syntax could I use in Find
and Replace?

[Greg Maxey]

Joe,

See:

http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Two_Spaces..._Sentences.htm

On Jan 24, 10:11 am, "Joe McGuire"
wrote:
Lots of stuff that I paste into Word from other sources was written with a
single space after a period (or other puncuation) ending a sentence. All of
these then display with little green marks showing that Word thinks there is
a problem (in this case Word is correct; I have always put 2 spaces after
sentence punctuation, even before Bill Gates got a job). I can then
laborious wade through the entire document and fix each instance one at a
time. Oy!! Is there a setting in Word that will automatically correct that
spacing after punctuation? If not, what sort of syntax could I use in Find
and Replace?

[Carol]

First of all you could save yourself a lot of trouble if you used Edit |
Paste Special | Unformatted text.

Secondly, it sounds as if whomever created your documents was using Kerning
and therefore only one space after a sentence would be correct. If you do
not use Kerning, then when you run spell check it should pick up the one
space at the end of a sentence as an error and give you an option to correct
it.
--
Carol A. Bratt, MCP



"Joe McGuire" wrote:

Lots of stuff that I paste into Word from other sources was written with a
single space after a period (or other puncuation) ending a sentence. All of
these then display with little green marks showing that Word thinks there is
a problem (in this case Word is correct; I have always put 2 spaces after
sentence punctuation, even before Bill Gates got a job). I can then
laborious wade through the entire document and fix each instance one at a
time. Oy!! Is there a setting in Word that will automatically correct that
spacing after punctuation? If not, what sort of syntax could I use in Find
and Replace?

[Graham Mayor]

You can tell Word's grammar checker not to flag this as an error - which is
what I would recommend, as this antediluvian practice is not required with
proportional fonts used by modern word-processing systems. It is a hangover
from the days of manual typewriters.

However, if you insist, a *wildcard* search for

(.)([ ])([! ])
replace with
\1\2\2\3

will replace all single spaces with double spaces and will ignore those that
are already double spaced.

If you want to include question marks and exclamation marks the search
string would be
([.\!\?])([ ])([! ])
the replace string stays the same


--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org



Joe McGuire wrote:
Lots of stuff that I paste into Word from other sources was written
with a single space after a period (or other punctuation) ending a
sentence. All of these then display with little green marks showing
that Word thinks there is a problem (in this case Word is correct; I
have always put 2 spaces after sentence punctuation, even before Bill
Gates got a job). I can then laborious wade through the entire
document and fix each instance one at a time. Oy!! Is there a
setting in Word that will automatically correct that spacing after
punctuation? If not, what sort of syntax could I use in Find and
Replace?

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

As others have mentioned, the practice of using two spaces after punctuation
is a holdover from typewriter practice and is based on the spacing of
monospaced fonts. Unless you are using Courier New or some other monospaced
font (almost all fonts, including the default Times New Roman, are
proportional), a single space after punctuation is adequate and
conventional.

If you make the sensible decision to join the rest of the world in this
practice, then what you need to do is change the setting in Word's grammar
checker (Tools | Options | Spelling & Grammar: Grammar: Settings: Spaces
required between sentences). There are (in Word 2003) three possible
settings: "1," "2," and "Don't check." It sounds as if you currently have
"2" selected. You can change to "1" or "Don't check," or (even more
sensibly) you can turn off grammar checking altogether and use your own good
sense.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Joe McGuire" wrote in message
...
Lots of stuff that I paste into Word from other sources was written with a
single space after a period (or other puncuation) ending a sentence. All
of
these then display with little green marks showing that Word thinks there
is
a problem (in this case Word is correct; I have always put 2 spaces after
sentence punctuation, even before Bill Gates got a job). I can then
laborious wade through the entire document and fix each instance one at a
time. Oy!! Is there a setting in Word that will automatically correct
that
spacing after punctuation? If not, what sort of syntax could I use in
Find
and Replace?

[Joe McGuire]

Thanks, Sue, and thanks to the others who responded with speed that still
has my head spinning. Yes, indeed, I seem to be a holdover (I actually use
Courier New for some legal writing) but I accept the invitation to join the
21st Century. However, I don't find any references to spaces after
sentences in Spelling and Grammar in Word 2003 as you suggest. I tried
Word's Help which was a laugh, of course. Is there another location for
that setting?

(My main reason for wanting control over the spacing issue is my desire for
consistency in a finished document. I actually use Courier New for some
legal writing. But my main concern is that I would like all the
post-punctuation spacing to look the same, even with proportional fonts like
Times New Roman. If I wrote everything myself, there would be no problem.
The problem--and it may be a small one, to be sure--arises when I paste
other text into mine.)

(Curiously, I see a check mark in Spelling and Grammar) under Proofing Tools
for "Use German post-reform rules". Like so many other things in Word I
can't recall doing that, although it may have come up in the course of some
of my writing in German.)

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
As others have mentioned, the practice of using two spaces after
punctuation
is a holdover from typewriter practice and is based on the spacing of
monospaced fonts. Unless you are using Courier New or some other
monospaced
font (almost all fonts, including the default Times New Roman, are
proportional), a single space after punctuation is adequate and
conventional.

If you make the sensible decision to join the rest of the world in this
practice, then what you need to do is change the setting in Word's grammar
checker (Tools | Options | Spelling & Grammar: Grammar: Settings: Spaces
required between sentences). There are (in Word 2003) three possible
settings: "1," "2," and "Don't check." It sounds as if you currently have
"2" selected. You can change to "1" or "Don't check," or (even more
sensibly) you can turn off grammar checking altogether and use your own
good
sense.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"Joe McGuire" wrote in message
...
Lots of stuff that I paste into Word from other sources was written with
a
single space after a period (or other puncuation) ending a sentence. All
of
these then display with little green marks showing that Word thinks there
is
a problem (in this case Word is correct; I have always put 2 spaces after
sentence punctuation, even before Bill Gates got a job). I can then
laborious wade through the entire document and fix each instance one at a
time. Oy!! Is there a setting in Word that will automatically correct
that
spacing after punctuation? If not, what sort of syntax could I use in
Find
and Replace?

[Joe McGuire]

Thanks. Pasted the macro and after a slight hitch (somehow ended up with
two "End sub" lines) it works very well.

"Greg Maxey" wrote in message
ups.com...
Joe,

See:

http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Two_Spaces..._Sentences.htm

On Jan 24, 10:11 am, "Joe McGuire"
wrote:
Lots of stuff that I paste into Word from other sources was written with
a
single space after a period (or other puncuation) ending a sentence. All
of
these then display with little green marks showing that Word thinks there
is
a problem (in this case Word is correct; I have always put 2 spaces after
sentence punctuation, even before Bill Gates got a job). I can then
laborious wade through the entire document and fix each instance one at a
time. Oy!! Is there a setting in Word that will automatically correct
that
spacing after punctuation? If not, what sort of syntax could I use in
Find
and Replace?

[Joe McGuire]

Thanks. Actually, I nearly always use Paste Special, Unformatted Text to
avoid even more formatting issues. Word then picks up the one space after
punctuation as an error and offers a correction. Unfortunately, you can
only fix the errors one-at-a-time. Doing this through an entire document
gets pretty tedious. I got great suggestions from others in this forum for
dealing with this--along with a few snickers that I seem to be stuck in the
typewriter mindset--does anybody remember typewriters?

"Carol" wrote in message
...
First of all you could save yourself a lot of trouble if you used Edit |
Paste Special | Unformatted text.

Secondly, it sounds as if whomever created your documents was using
Kerning
and therefore only one space after a sentence would be correct. If you do
not use Kerning, then when you run spell check it should pick up the one
space at the end of a sentence as an error and give you an option to
correct
it.
--
Carol A. Bratt, MCP



"Joe McGuire" wrote:

Lots of stuff that I paste into Word from other sources was written with
a
single space after a period (or other puncuation) ending a sentence. All
of
these then display with little green marks showing that Word thinks there
is
a problem (in this case Word is correct; I have always put 2 spaces after
sentence punctuation, even before Bill Gates got a job). I can then
laborious wade through the entire document and fix each instance one at a
time. Oy!! Is there a setting in Word that will automatically correct
that
spacing after punctuation? If not, what sort of syntax could I use in
Find
and Replace?

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I described the location of this setting in what I thought was minute
detail, but here goes again.

1. On the Tools menu, select Options.

2. In the Options dialog, select the Spelling & Grammar tab.

3. On the Spelling & Grammar tab, in the Grammar section, click the button
labeled Settings...

4. In the Grammar Settings dialog, at the top, under Require, is the setting
for "Spaces required between sentences." There is a dropdown list box for 1,
2, and "don't check." Select your preference.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Joe McGuire" wrote in message
...
Thanks, Sue, and thanks to the others who responded with speed that still
has my head spinning. Yes, indeed, I seem to be a holdover (I actually
use
Courier New for some legal writing) but I accept the invitation to join
the
21st Century. However, I don't find any references to spaces after
sentences in Spelling and Grammar in Word 2003 as you suggest. I tried
Word's Help which was a laugh, of course. Is there another location for
that setting?

(My main reason for wanting control over the spacing issue is my desire
for
consistency in a finished document. I actually use Courier New for some
legal writing. But my main concern is that I would like all the
post-punctuation spacing to look the same, even with proportional fonts
like
Times New Roman. If I wrote everything myself, there would be no problem.
The problem--and it may be a small one, to be sure--arises when I paste
other text into mine.)

(Curiously, I see a check mark in Spelling and Grammar) under Proofing
Tools
for "Use German post-reform rules". Like so many other things in Word I
can't recall doing that, although it may have come up in the course of
some
of my writing in German.)

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
As others have mentioned, the practice of using two spaces after
punctuation
is a holdover from typewriter practice and is based on the spacing of
monospaced fonts. Unless you are using Courier New or some other
monospaced
font (almost all fonts, including the default Times New Roman, are
proportional), a single space after punctuation is adequate and
conventional.

If you make the sensible decision to join the rest of the world in this
practice, then what you need to do is change the setting in Word's
grammar
checker (Tools | Options | Spelling & Grammar: Grammar: Settings: Spaces
required between sentences). There are (in Word 2003) three possible
settings: "1," "2," and "Don't check." It sounds as if you currently
have
"2" selected. You can change to "1" or "Don't check," or (even more
sensibly) you can turn off grammar checking altogether and use your own
good
sense.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"Joe McGuire" wrote in message
...
Lots of stuff that I paste into Word from other sources was written
with
a
single space after a period (or other puncuation) ending a sentence.
All
of
these then display with little green marks showing that Word thinks
there
is
a problem (in this case Word is correct; I have always put 2 spaces
after
sentence punctuation, even before Bill Gates got a job). I can then
laborious wade through the entire document and fix each instance one at
a
time. Oy!! Is there a setting in Word that will automatically correct
that
spacing after punctuation? If not, what sort of syntax could I use in
Find
and Replace?

[Poprivet]

Instead of spell checking that way, select the whole document before
clicking on spell check. Then you'll have the Change All and Ignore All
etc., available to you.

Pop`


Joe McGuire wrote:
Thanks. Actually, I nearly always use Paste Special, Unformatted
Text to avoid even more formatting issues. Word then picks up the one
space after punctuation as an error and offers a correction.
Unfortunately, you can only fix the errors one-at-a-time. Doing this
through an entire document gets pretty tedious. I got great
suggestions from others in this forum for dealing with this--along
with a few snickers that I seem to be stuck in the typewriter
mindset--does anybody remember typewriters?
"Carol" wrote in message
...
First of all you could save yourself a lot of trouble if you used
Edit | Paste Special | Unformatted text.

Secondly, it sounds as if whomever created your documents was using
Kerning
and therefore only one space after a sentence would be correct. If
you do not use Kerning, then when you run spell check it should pick
up the one space at the end of a sentence as an error and give you
an option to correct
it.
--
Carol A. Bratt, MCP



"Joe McGuire" wrote:

Lots of stuff that I paste into Word from other sources was written
with a
single space after a period (or other puncuation) ending a
sentence. All of
these then display with little green marks showing that Word thinks
there is
a problem (in this case Word is correct; I have always put 2 spaces
after sentence punctuation, even before Bill Gates got a job). I
can then laborious wade through the entire document and fix each
instance one at a time. Oy!! Is there a setting in Word that will
automatically correct that
spacing after punctuation? If not, what sort of syntax could I use
in Find
and Replace?

[Joe McGuire]

My fault--I skipped over the "settings" button. Yes, indeed, there it is!
thanks!

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
I described the location of this setting in what I thought was minute
detail, but here goes again.

1. On the Tools menu, select Options.

2. In the Options dialog, select the Spelling & Grammar tab.

3. On the Spelling & Grammar tab, in the Grammar section, click the button
labeled Settings...

4. In the Grammar Settings dialog, at the top, under Require, is the
setting
for "Spaces required between sentences." There is a dropdown list box for
1,
2, and "don't check." Select your preference.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"Joe McGuire" wrote in message
...
Thanks, Sue, and thanks to the others who responded with speed that still
has my head spinning. Yes, indeed, I seem to be a holdover (I actually
use
Courier New for some legal writing) but I accept the invitation to join
the
21st Century. However, I don't find any references to spaces after
sentences in Spelling and Grammar in Word 2003 as you suggest. I tried
Word's Help which was a laugh, of course. Is there another location for
that setting?

(My main reason for wanting control over the spacing issue is my desire
for
consistency in a finished document. I actually use Courier New for some
legal writing. But my main concern is that I would like all the
post-punctuation spacing to look the same, even with proportional fonts
like
Times New Roman. If I wrote everything myself, there would be no
problem.
The problem--and it may be a small one, to be sure--arises when I paste
other text into mine.)

(Curiously, I see a check mark in Spelling and Grammar) under Proofing
Tools
for "Use German post-reform rules". Like so many other things in Word I
can't recall doing that, although it may have come up in the course of
some
of my writing in German.)

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
As others have mentioned, the practice of using two spaces after
punctuation
is a holdover from typewriter practice and is based on the spacing of
monospaced fonts. Unless you are using Courier New or some other
monospaced
font (almost all fonts, including the default Times New Roman, are
proportional), a single space after punctuation is adequate and
conventional.

If you make the sensible decision to join the rest of the world in this
practice, then what you need to do is change the setting in Word's
grammar
checker (Tools | Options | Spelling & Grammar: Grammar: Settings:
Spaces
required between sentences). There are (in Word 2003) three possible
settings: "1," "2," and "Don't check." It sounds as if you currently
have
"2" selected. You can change to "1" or "Don't check," or (even more
sensibly) you can turn off grammar checking altogether and use your own
good
sense.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"Joe McGuire" wrote in message
...
Lots of stuff that I paste into Word from other sources was written
with
a
single space after a period (or other puncuation) ending a sentence.
All
of
these then display with little green marks showing that Word thinks
there
is
a problem (in this case Word is correct; I have always put 2 spaces
after
sentence punctuation, even before Bill Gates got a job). I can then
laborious wade through the entire document and fix each instance one
at
a
time. Oy!! Is there a setting in Word that will automatically
correct
that
spacing after punctuation? If not, what sort of syntax could I use in
Find
and Replace?

[Joe McGuire]

Greg--I found one miniscule problem running this macro. It does a great job
of making sure there are two spaces after the end of a sentence. However,
it does the same thing any time a period (or other punctuation) appears and
is apparently followed by at least 1 space. Thus somebody's middle initial
would end up with two spaces. Hardly the end of the world. It does not do
the same for periods in the middle of a word, as in microsoft.com or a
company name, such as Dewey Cheatham & Howe P.C. .


"Greg Maxey" wrote in message
ups.com...
Joe,

See:

http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Two_Spaces..._Sentences.htm

On Jan 24, 10:11 am, "Joe McGuire"
wrote:
Lots of stuff that I paste into Word from other sources was written with
a
single space after a period (or other puncuation) ending a sentence. All
of
these then display with little green marks showing that Word thinks there
is
a problem (in this case Word is correct; I have always put 2 spaces after
sentence punctuation, even before Bill Gates got a job). I can then
laborious wade through the entire document and fix each instance one at a
time. Oy!! Is there a setting in Word that will automatically correct
that
spacing after punctuation? If not, what sort of syntax could I use in
Find
and Replace?

[Greg Maxey]

Joe,

Yes, you are right. The following should take care of most cases:

Sub TwoSpacesAfterSentence()
Dim oRng As Range
Set oRng = ActiveDocument.Range
With oRng.Find
.ClearFormatting
.MatchWildcards = True
.Text = "(*{2})([.\!\?]) ([A-Z])" 'Changed
.Replacement.Text = "\1\2 \3" 'Changed
.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
.Text = "([.\!\?]) {3,}([A-Z])"
.Replacement.Text = "\1 \2"
.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
'This should prevent most cases of improper double spacing 'Added
'in names (e.g., F. Lee Bailey, George W. Bush, etc.) 'Added
.Text = "([!A-Z][A-Z].) ([A-Z])"
'Added
.Replacement.Text = "\1 \2"
'Added
.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
'Added
End With
End Sub

There still could be nuances that this code doesn't correct or "over
corrects" :-(

--
Greg Maxey/Word MVP
See:
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/word_tips.htm
For some helpful tips using Word.


Joe McGuire wrote:
Greg--I found one miniscule problem running this macro. It does a
great job of making sure there are two spaces after the end of a
sentence. However, it does the same thing any time a period (or
other punctuation) appears and is apparently followed by at least 1
space. Thus somebody's middle initial would end up with two spaces.
Hardly the end of the world. It does not do the same for periods in
the middle of a word, as in microsoft.com or a company name, such as
Dewey Cheatham & Howe P.C. .

"Greg Maxey" wrote in message
ups.com...
Joe,

See:

http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Two_Spaces..._Sentences.htm

On Jan 24, 10:11 am, "Joe McGuire"
wrote:
Lots of stuff that I paste into Word from other sources was written
with a
single space after a period (or other puncuation) ending a
sentence. All of
these then display with little green marks showing that Word thinks
there is
a problem (in this case Word is correct; I have always put 2 spaces
after sentence punctuation, even before Bill Gates got a job). I
can then laborious wade through the entire document and fix each
instance one at a time. Oy!! Is there a setting in Word that will
automatically correct that
spacing after punctuation? If not, what sort of syntax could I use
in Find
and Replace?

[Joe McGuire]

Works like a charm! Thanks!

"Greg Maxey" wrote in message
...
Joe,

Yes, you are right. The following should take care of most cases:

Sub TwoSpacesAfterSentence()
Dim oRng As Range
Set oRng = ActiveDocument.Range
With oRng.Find
.ClearFormatting
.MatchWildcards = True
.Text = "(*{2})([.\!\?]) ([A-Z])" 'Changed
.Replacement.Text = "\1\2 \3" 'Changed
.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
.Text = "([.\!\?]) {3,}([A-Z])"
.Replacement.Text = "\1 \2"
.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
'This should prevent most cases of improper double spacing 'Added
'in names (e.g., F. Lee Bailey, George W. Bush, etc.) 'Added
.Text = "([!A-Z][A-Z].) ([A-Z])"
'Added
.Replacement.Text = "\1 \2"
'Added
.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
'Added
End With
End Sub

There still could be nuances that this code doesn't correct or "over
corrects" :-(

--
Greg Maxey/Word MVP
See:
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/word_tips.htm
For some helpful tips using Word.


Joe McGuire wrote:
Greg--I found one miniscule problem running this macro. It does a
great job of making sure there are two spaces after the end of a
sentence. However, it does the same thing any time a period (or
other punctuation) appears and is apparently followed by at least 1
space. Thus somebody's middle initial would end up with two spaces.
Hardly the end of the world. It does not do the same for periods in
the middle of a word, as in microsoft.com or a company name, such as
Dewey Cheatham & Howe P.C. .

"Greg Maxey" wrote in message
ups.com...
Joe,

See:

http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Two_Spaces..._Sentences.htm

On Jan 24, 10:11 am, "Joe McGuire"
wrote:
Lots of stuff that I paste into Word from other sources was written
with a
single space after a period (or other puncuation) ending a
sentence. All of
these then display with little green marks showing that Word thinks
there is
a problem (in this case Word is correct; I have always put 2 spaces
after sentence punctuation, even before Bill Gates got a job). I
can then laborious wade through the entire document and fix each
instance one at a time. Oy!! Is there a setting in Word that will
automatically correct that
spacing after punctuation? If not, what sort of syntax could I use
in Find
and Replace?