# Annoying hyphenation problem in Word

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-hyphenation-problem-in-word/621298>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 8, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-hyphenation-problem-in-word/621298 "2012-05-08T17:28:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-hyphenation-problem-in-word/621298/1 "2012-05-08T17:28:03Z")

</div>

In Word I often want to insert a soft hyphen (using (ctl -}) so that the line lengths will look better. Annoyingly Word will then try to auto-correct the spelling. For example, if I insert a soft hyphen here percen{-}tage, Word will do so and break the line with a visible hyphen meanwhile auto-correcting “percen-” to “percent-” and leaving “tage” alone on the next line.

I don’t see any way to stop this except by turning off auto-correct which I don’t want to do. Has anyone had this problem or figured a solution to it. I’m using Office 2010, though this problem is older than that.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-hyphenation-problem-in-word/621298/2 "2012-05-08T17:31:39Z")

</div>

Well, you’re not actually supposed to put a hyphen before the ‘t’… there are rules, here.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-hyphenation-problem-in-word/621298/3 "2012-05-08T17:41:09Z")

</div>

Barring other examples, I concur with **Ethilrist**.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/annoying-hyphenation-problem-in-word/621298/4 "2012-05-08T18:02:54Z")

</div>

If MS Word autocorrects something, and you don’t want that correction, immediately type Ctrl-Z to cancel the correction.