Using a Non-Breaking Hyphen

When Word 2007 calculates line length and wraps text to a new line, it tries to break the line at a space or a hyphen (dash). Sometimes, however, you may not want Word to break a line at a dash. For instance, dashes are used in telephone numbers, and you might not want a line to break in the middle of a telephone number.

The answer is to use non-breaking hyphens instead of regular dashes when you don't want Word to break a line at the hyphen. To do this, hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys as you type the dash (this is the same as typing Ctrl and an underscore). Word will then not break the line at that point.

You can also insert a non-breaking hyphen by following these steps:

1. Display the Insert tab of the Ribbon, click Symbol in the Symbols group, and finally click More Symbols. Word displays the Insert Symbol dialog box.
2. Click on the Special Characters tab. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. Highlight the Nonbreaking Hyphen character.
4. Click on Insert.
5. Close the dialog box by clicking on Cancel.