Why is WORD inserting a whole new line when I type an apostrophe?

January 25, 2013 6:12 AM

Why is WORD inserting an extra line every time I type an apostrophe?

I am using WORD 2007 and, each time I type an apostrophe, WORD respaces my document -- specifically, the line after the one I'm typing in goes down one single-space line. I've searched this on Google and all I can find are a lot of posts complaining that WORD inserts one long space after certain punctuation - but never that it inserts an entire new LINE, so that if you're set on single space, now you have 1 1/2 spaces, but just in between that line with the apostrophe and the next line.

Here is a sample, demonstrating what I'm talking about:

----
Here's a sample of the phenomenon of which I speak. You can see that we have a double

space between this line and the previous one. That is because of the apostrophe in the word "Heres" (I didn't put that apostrophe in this "Heres" because I did not want it to do it again.) The next line -- this one -- is single spaced, as is set in my formatting. In this sample, though, there is a double space up there, while in my real document, it would only look like another half-space -- but I couldn't recreate that here.


Has anyone experienced this? My document is now a MESS because of it. Thanks.

posted by DMelanogaster to computers & internet (10 answers total)

On the home tab, look for the spacing menu (where you set single spaced, double spaced, etc.). Look for something that says "remove space after paragraph". Does this fix it?
posted by fixedthefernback at 6:27 AM on January 25

My suggestion would be to copy the "normal" style from a document that isn't having the problem into your standard word template, and then reformat your normal paragraph style to be as you want.
posted by bfranklin at 6:28 AM on January 25 [1 favorite]

And also, make sure that the style of the paragraph isn't something like Normal + spacing setting. If it is, just format with the plain old normal style.
posted by bfranklin at 6:29 AM on January 25

Are you using a language that treats the apostrophe as something else?
posted by devnull at 6:36 AM on January 25

Does anyone else have access to your computer?

A long shot, but someone may have changed your auto-correct options as a prank.

Not that I have ever done that.

By making it append "the asshole" any time my friend typed his name.
posted by The Deej at 6:37 AM on January 25 [4 favorites]

I don't have a copy of 2007 to test this, but I feel like this may have something to do with "smart quotes" vs. "straight quotes." (Yes, I know we're talking apostrophes, but it's the same idea.)

Highlight only the apostrophe and compare what style it is to the rest of your document. You might be using a font that doesn't support smart quotes, and it's subbing something else. I see this problem when going from WordPerfect documents to Word. (Yes, I have to do this. Often.)
posted by JoanArkham at 6:40 AM on January 25

sorry to "sit on" this question, but so far you have made comments that replicate the comments when I google -- when people are having the "long space after apostrophe" problem (as opposed to the entire LINE added problem) --

So -- no, nobody's changed my formatting. It is not thinking it's another language. I don't have the "remove space after paragraph" set incorrectly. And sadly I don't think I know how to mess with the "normal" etc. formats. How do I do that?
posted by DMelanogaster at 6:41 AM on January 25

oh my god -- responding to the last comment -- You're right! I highlighted the text and it's Helvetica, whereas when I highlighted the apostrophe it's Ariel Unico!! Why on earth would it have a different font for the apostrophe?
posted by DMelanogaster at 6:44 AM on January 25

I highlighted the whole document and changed it all to a new font and now I think it's fixed!!! thank you so much!
posted by DMelanogaster at 6:46 AM on January 25 [2 favorites]

oh my god -- responding to the last comment -- You're right! I highlighted the text and it's Helvetica, whereas when I highlighted the apostrophe it's Ariel Unico!! Why on earth would it have a different font for the apostrophe?

You may have opened a document from someone else that used Ariel Unico, and for some reason you Normal template was updated because of that document. Word does strange, mysterious things sometimes.
posted by KokuRyu at 8:20 AM on January 25