# Please help with getting Word Perfect to stop trying to read my mind. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 7, 2004, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-with-getting-word-perfect-to-stop-trying-to-read-my-mind/268090 "2004-10-07T20:36:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-with-getting-word-perfect-to-stop-trying-to-read-my-mind/268090/1 "2004-10-07T20:36:56Z")
I’m using Word Perfect version 12 here at work, and it automatically capitalizes any letter that appears after a period and a space, incorrectly thinking it’s the start of a new sentence. Does anyone know how to turn this off? I haven’t had any luck doing so. I’m sure I could figure it out if I spent a couple hours researching it, but I was hoping someone might know off-hand. The really asinine thing about it is that there are TWO spaces between sentences, yet it automatically capitalizes after ONE space, so something like “Microsoft, Inc. v. Doe” becomes Microsoft, Inc. V. Doe". :smack: ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-with-getting-word-perfect-to-stop-trying-to-read-my-mind/268090/2 "2004-10-07T20:41:57Z")
I especially hate “I.e.” ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-with-getting-word-perfect-to-stop-trying-to-read-my-mind/268090/3 "2004-10-07T20:46:09Z")
Turn off Auto Correct, under Tools, Auto Correct options (or just turn off the appropriate option in that menu). ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-with-getting-word-perfect-to-stop-trying-to-read-my-mind/268090/4 "2004-10-07T20:48:05Z")
Oh and alternatively, if you hold down shift when you space, it will disable autocorrection for that one word. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-with-getting-word-perfect-to-stop-trying-to-read-my-mind/268090/5 "2004-10-07T20:49:06Z")
Ignore me. I swear I saw “Microsoft Word” Ignore me. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-with-getting-word-perfect-to-stop-trying-to-read-my-mind/268090/6 "2004-10-07T20:50:38Z")
\*ducks in and says: WordPerfect: The Autocorrect Feature The Autocorrect, or Quickcorrect, feature inserts corrections automatically as you type your text. Sometimes the corrections are what you intended, but sometimes this is not the case. TO ENABLE/DISABLE QUICKCORRECT: 1. Go to the Edit menu and select Preferences. 2. Uncheck (or check) the box that says “enable Quickcorrect.” - [From here.](http://www.lehigh.edu/helpdesk/faq/qa/appswpcorr.html) ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-with-getting-word-perfect-to-stop-trying-to-read-my-mind/268090/7 "2004-10-07T20:53:35Z")
> [@blowero](#): > > The really asinine thing about it is that there are TWO spaces between sentences, yet it automatically capitalizes after ONE space, so something like “Microsoft, Inc. v. Doe” becomes Microsoft, Inc. V. Doe". :smack: When I went to school there were two spaces between sentences also, but it seems current usage is to put only one space. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-with-getting-word-perfect-to-stop-trying-to-read-my-mind/268090/8 "2004-10-07T20:59:19Z")
As a graphic designer and one-time professional typesetter (before do-it-yourself desktop publishing), I can confirm that the convention of putting two wordspaces after the end of a sentence is from the days of typwriters with monospaced lettering (each character, from “i” to “W” takes up the same amount of horizontal space). With computer-generated scaled fonts, you only need to put one space between sentences. (This is one of my pet peeves; not so much in e-mails, etc., but when I see a professionally published book set like this, I get really annoyed.) ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-with-getting-word-perfect-to-stop-trying-to-read-my-mind/268090/9 "2004-10-07T21:03:21Z")
I read about that recently, but damned if I can break myself of the habit. But I’m not typesetting any books, so I doubt anyone really notices. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-with-getting-word-perfect-to-stop-trying-to-read-my-mind/268090/10 "2004-10-07T21:06:17Z")
I notice. Of course, I work in publishing, so they pay me to notice. ---
**Author:** ![blowero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/41988e/32.png) [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-with-getting-word-perfect-to-stop-trying-to-read-my-mind/268090/11 "2004-10-07T21:11:55Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > Turn off Auto Correct, under Tools, Auto Correct options (or just turn off the appropriate option in that menu). Thanks! WP and Word are actually very similar these days. Same menu item. Wow, I didn’t know that about the sentence spacing. I must be old. ---
**Author:** ![Aragowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/da6949/32.png) [@Aragowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aragowyn)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-with-getting-word-perfect-to-stop-trying-to-read-my-mind/268090/12 "2004-10-07T21:18:56Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > With computer-generated scaled fonts, you only need to put one space between sentences. (This is one of my pet peeves Wait, what does ‘you only need’ mean? Do you mean it’s now wrong to put two spaces after a period, or do you mean now, one space is ok, and two spaces is still ok as well? Can someone clarify once & for all, what is correct in today’s business and technical writing?? And how many spaces after a semi-colon, and how many after a colon? And why would the usage of computers for word processing change the rule?? It doesn’t make sense to me. Whether you’re using fixed-space fonts on a typewriter or using Times New Roman on Word, why would simply using a non fixed-width font change how many spaces appear after a period? And if you’re gonna change the rule, it would seem the backwards would be the new rule: that with non-fixed width fonts, you need 2 spaces after the period to make sentences look more clearly separated. Huh. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-with-getting-word-perfect-to-stop-trying-to-read-my-mind/268090/13 "2004-10-07T21:28:46Z")
Too bad, I’m going to continue to put two spaces after a sentence. Try and stop me. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-with-getting-word-perfect-to-stop-trying-to-read-my-mind/268090/14 "2004-10-07T21:29:56Z")
Sorry, I should have been clearer. With scaled fonts, only one space between sentences, after colons and semi-colons, ever. I think the thinking is that with monospaced fonts, the spacing of the lettering within words tends to be loose and uneven, so an extra space between sentences aids legibility. In computer type, kerning makes the spacing more uniform and legible, so no need for extra space between sentences. If you look at older printed material that was set using either linotype machines or hand-set with individual molded letters, there is a single space at the end of sentences. Computer-set type follows these conventions, for the most part.