Dash auto correct still malfunctions in Word 2007

[Benjamin Barrett]

The hyphen to dash auto correct function sometimes malfunctions, converting a
letter plus a hyphen (rather than two hyphens) to a dash. I see this
sometimes when I type "above-mentioned" (because I use that word a lot) as
well as with other hyphenated words. I double-checked, and there is no auto
correct entry for anything beginning with "above".

While I'm on the topic, I should mention that the smart quotes auto correct
function also malfunctions frequently enough that I'm in the habit of doing a
global search and replace to ensure single and double quotes are the smart
type. This also seems to be unfixed in Word 2007.

 

[Terry Farrell]

It only ever converts to a dash if I put a space either side of the hyphen.
I have never seen a hyphen converted to a dash as in your example in any
version of Word.

Please give us an example of the Smartquote problem. Is it failing to create
a smartquote or using the wrong smartquote or ?

 

[Benjamin Barrett]

The dash issue has been a strange one for a long time. When I go back and
select the pull-down arrow to undo the correction, it goes back to
"above-mentioned". My two theories are that it's either a strange auto
correct entry or else it's triggered by something else. Because this problem
is occurring in 2007 and because I double-checked, I think the first theory
has to be wrong, but I can't figure out what's triggering it. The issue
happens probably one every 10 times or less, but it happens.

BTW, I'm not talking about the short dash (n dash?), but the long dash (m
dash?) that is triggered by a sequence like "I went to the store--no, it was
the". It would seem like I'm pressing the hyphen key twice, but as I said, I
can undo it so it goes back to "above-mentioned".

The smart quote issue I have is where the straight quote is not converted to
a smart quote. Recently, I noticed that this problem *might* be happening
after I've been doing something else like backspacing.

A really frustrating problem with auto correct is that it sometimes turns
off, I think due to backspacing or control Z-ing. You then have to type
randomly for a short while until the auto correct function is ready to work
again. This appears to be the same issue as the smart quotes not kicking in.

 

[Terry Farrell]

If I type 'I went to the store--no it was the...' the -- will turn into an
M-dash because that is an AutoFormat option (it needs to be turned off under
both AutoFormat and AutoFormat as You Type tab options). But I have never
seen a single dash changed into anything other than an N-dash (and only
triggers if there are spaces either side of the dash and it is followed by
another word and a space - standard in English (British), but not in English
(US).

Ctrl+Z or backspace is definitely a possible reason for a SmartQuote to go
awry as both will act as an Undo command.

But either of these could be affected if for some reason part of the
document is set to no-proofing.

Terry

 

[Benjamin Barrett]

I have just taken screen dumps showing this very phenomonen. It occurred with
the word "multi-row". Is there a place I can send these to?

As for the smart quotes, my documents are not set to no proofing, and the
issue is not that a smart quote goes away, it's that they refuse to be
created for a certain period of time; the auto correct function is turned off
for a period of time. This affects not only the smart quotes but my auto
correct word shortcuts I've created.

 

[Terry Farrell]

You could send the screenshot to me as attachments to an email.

The latter delays could be caused by 2 possibilities.

1. Excessive abandoned temp files lurking in the temp folder: when all
applications are closed, make sure that the TEMP folder is empty. Delete all
files left there which may require a fresh reboot.

2. A bad printer or graphics driver: go to the Internet support sites for
the graphics and printer vendors and make sure that you have the latest
drivers. Delete and reinstall the printer and reinstall the graphics
drivers.

Terry