How to Enable and Disable Hyphenation in Microsoft Word

As a word processor, Microsoft Word has features intended to imitate the grammar of different languages. An example is the use of hyphenation in written text. A hyphen is a punctuation mark to join words or separate parts of words. In Microsoft Word, users can have the app hyphenate text where necessary.

The hyphenation of text in Microsoft Word can be done automatically or manually. Both automatic and manual hyphenation have their benefits. Here’s how to enable and disable either option in your Microsoft Word app.

How to Turn on Hyphenation in Microsoft Word

As mentioned above, there are two types of hyphenation – automatic and manual. Here’s how you can enable either:

How to Turn on Automatic Hyphenation in Microsoft Word

Automatic hyphenation allows Microsoft Word to place hyphens in your text as you type which saves you time. However, this means that the user cannot control the text that gets hyphenated. Here’s how to turn on automatic hyphenation in Word:

Step 1: Click the Start button on the Taskbar and type word to search for the app.

Step 2: From the results, click on the Microsoft Word app or document to open it.

Step 3: On the Microsoft Word ribbon, click the Layout tab.

Step 4: Within the Page Setup group, click the Hyphenation button.

Step 5: Select the Automatic option from the drop-down.

How to Turn on Manual Hyphenation in Microsoft Word

With manual hyphenation, you can have Microsoft Word suggest text to hyphenate. The benefit of manual hyphenation is that the choice and control of words to hyphenate are left to the user. Here’s how to turn on manual hyphenation in Word:

Step 1: Click the Start button on the Taskbar and type word to search for the app.

Step 2: From the results, click on the Microsoft Word app or document to open it.

Step 3: On the Microsoft Word Ribbon, click the Layout tab.

Step 4: Within the Page Setup group, click the Hyphenation button.

Step 5: Select the Manual option from the drop-down.

How to Limit the Number of Consecutive Hyphens in Microsoft Word

If you do not want consecutive hyphens in your Word document, you can limit their occurrence. To do so, you will have to limit the number of consecutive hyphens to include in the document. Here’s how to do so:

Step 1: Click the Start button on the Taskbar and type word to search for the app.

Step 2: From the results, click on the Microsoft Word app or document to open it.

Step 3: On the Microsoft Word ribbon, click the Layout tab.

Step 4: Within the Page Setup group, click the Hyphenation button.

Step 5: Select the Hyphenation options from the drop-down to launch a dialog box.

Step 6: In the Hyphenation dialog box, click the text box beside ‘Limit consecutive hyphens to.’

Step 7: By default, you should see a ‘No limit’ in the text box. Using the backspace key, clear the ‘No limit’, then enter a figure for the maximum number of hyphens you want.

Step 8: Click the OK button to save your change.

How to Prevent Text From Being Hyphenated

If you do not want a hyphen in a particular text, here’s how to prevent it:

Step 1: Click the Start button on the Taskbar and type word to search for the app.

Step 2: From the results, click on the Microsoft Word app or document to open it.

Step 3: In the Word document, select the text you do not want hyphenated.

Step 4: On the Microsoft Word Ribbon Home tab click the dialog box launcher beside Paragraph.

Step 5: In the Paragraph dialog box, click the Line and Page Breaks tab.

Step 6: Under the Formatting exceptions section, tick the box beside ‘Don’t hyphenate.’

Step 7: Click OK to save your changes and close the dialog box.

How to Turn Off Hyphenation in Microsoft Word

If you do not want hyphens in your Word document, here’s how to turn it off.

Step 1: Click the Start button on the Taskbar and type word to search for the app.

Step 2: From the results, click on the Microsoft Word app or document to open it.

Step 3: On the Microsoft Word ribbon, click the Layout tab.

Step 4: Within the Page Setup group, click the Hyphenation button.

Step 5: Select the None option from the drop-down.

Adding Tags to a Word Document

If you want to get better search results when you browse your PC for a particular Word document, tag them properly. By adding tags to your Word file it ensures easy identification of your file.