Word 2004 inserting spaces after quotes/apostrophes in Arial

[Chris Watson]

When I am using the typeface ³Arial², MS Word 2004 is inserting additional
space after an apostrophe or a pair of quotes. However, it¹s not an actual
hard space (i.e., created by the space bar) and as a result, it can¹t be
deleted. This is a bit of an issue as quotes that should look like ³Our
customers... and ...watching Œ60 Minutes¹. now look (and print) like this:
³ Our customers... and ...watching Œ 60 Minutes¹ .

Anyone have any idea why Word is automatically adjusting the kerning when I
use Arial and these punctuation marks? It doesn¹t happen if I switch to Time
new Roman PS or Arial Narrow.

Help!

 

[Bill Weylock]

Chris -

Try going into the compatibility preferences and toward the bottom of the
long list be sure that ³use printer metrics² is checked. That might help. If
not, I don¹t have any idea what to suggest. By the way, have you double
checked in page preview to be totally sure it displays that way in output as
well as in display? I¹m guessing you have from the rest of your post, but
seems worth asking.
Hope this helps.

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

Click ¶ on the standard toolbar to show nonprinting characters, which will
show spaces, tabs, etc, with grey markers. This helps see what is going on.

With the cursor in the problematic text, go to Tools | Language. It kinda
sounds as though it may be set to a European language which has different
formatting for such punctuation, although I don't know why a change in font
would necessarily make a difference.

To reset existing text, you can select and change via Tools | Language, OR
Modify the style of the text. If text in new documents is giving the
problem, you must modify the underlying style--with the cursor in the
problematic text, go to Format | Style, the style in use will come up
selected, click Modify, use the Format drop down to change the Language, and
be sure to check "add to template" but not "automatically update."

DM

 

[John McGhie]

Hmmmm... Not doing it here. Check you are using Arial Version 3.05 by
Monotype Corporation.

When you installed Word 2004, it should have updated Arial to the new
Unicode version.

Hope this helps

When I am using the typeface ³Arial², MS Word 2004 is inserting additional
space after an apostrophe or a pair of quotes. However, it¹s not an actual
hard space (i.e., created by the space bar) and as a result, it can¹t be
deleted. This is a bit of an issue as quotes that should look like ³Our
customers... and ...watching Œ60 Minutes¹. now look (and print) like this:
³ Our customers... and ...watching Œ 60 Minutes¹ .

Anyone have any idea why Word is automatically adjusting the kerning when I
use Arial and these punctuation marks? It doesn¹t happen if I switch to Time
new Roman PS or Arial Narrow.

Help!

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410

 

[Chris Watson]

Hi Bill,

Turning on ³Use Printer Metrics² appears to have solved the problem. To
answer your follow-up questions (in case anyone else with a similar issue
reads this), the additional spacing was present in Page Preview as well as
when the document printed.

Thanks very much for your help.

Chris

 

[Bill Weylock]

Welcome. I got that from tech support back in the days when there used to be
tech support without having to show your passport and take a blood test. The
other thing you may want to check on is whether ³Fractional widths² is
turned on in your preferences. It¹s dimmed out until you specify ³printer
metrics.² Same source.

Really very glad I could help.

 

[Chris Watson]

Well, crap. The ³Printer Metrics² worked when I first applied it but now,
after relaunching Word, it has gone back to expanding the kerning following
quotes and apostrophes when using Arial. I¹m going to check font
compatibility now as suggested by John McGhie because this is getting
ridiculous.

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

Probably worth checking whether "use Printer Metrics" actually stopped
working, or randomly turned itself off somehow, if you haven't already.

DM

 

[Chris Watson]

Thanks. I checked and "Use Printer Metrics" was still checked off in the
preferences. In the short term, I've changed the typeface from Arial to
another sans serif that kerns properly with quotes and apostrophes. I'm also
going to check which versions of Arial I'm using. However, it would be great
to hear any other suggestions (or from anyone else experiencing this odd
problem).

Thanks.


Mitchell at (e-mail address removed) wrote on 6/7/04 1:02
PM:

 

[Bill Weylock]

Sorry it didn't take. Starting another thread on compatibility
preferences....