By default, Word automatically drops text to the next line when there’s a space or hyphen at the end of that line. But what if you want to keep those words containing the space or hyphen together on the same line?
With a bit of tweaking to spacing or inserting a manual break, you can certainly make this happen. But there’s another way. We’ll show you how to use nonbreaking spaces and hyphens to keep words together in your Microsoft Word document.
How to Insert a Nonbreaking Space
The nonbreaking space in Microsoft Word is considered a symbol, a special character. So you can simply replace the space between the words you want to keep together with a nonbreaking space.
Place your cursor where you want to insert the nonbreaking space. If you already have a space, you can simply select it by dragging your cursor through it.
If not, you can put the two words together with your cursor between them where you want the space.
Go to the Insert tab and click the Symbol drop-down arrow. Select “More Symbols.”
In the Symbol window that appears, click the Special Characters tab. Select “Nonbreaking Space” in the list, click “Insert,” and then “Close.”
You should then see your text adjust. The words on either side of the nonbreaking space should be together on the same line.
How to Insert a Nonbreaking Hyphen
The nonbreaking hyphen in Word works the same way as the nonbreaking space. But obviously, you’ll use this character for keeping hyphenated words together.
Place your cursor where you want to insert the nonbreaking hyphen. If you already have the hyphen, you can simply select it by dragging your cursor through it.
If not, you can put the two words together with your cursor between them where you want the hyphen.
Head to the Insert tab, click the Symbol drop-down arrow, and select “More Symbols.”
In the Symbol window, click the Special Characters tab. Select “Nonbreaking Hyphen” in the list, click “Insert,” and then “Close.”
You should then see your text adjust with the hyphenated word together on the same line.
Similar to keeping words on the same line, you can keep the lines of a paragraph together and stop them from splitting between pages. In addition, you can eliminate widow and orphan lines in your Word documents too!
