Word 2007 cannot hyphenate to save its life

[FeuerFrei]

Word 2003 hyphenated just fine. No problemo. :thumbsup:
Now that I've moved to Word 2007, I routinely notice bizarre word breaks when I set Word to automatically hyphenate a document.
Check these out:

• multip-lication
  new-sletter
  sove-reign
  unders-tood
  circums-tances
  constitutio-nalism
  an-yway

:frown:
MS seems to have taken a huge jump backward, as its latest word processor can't master the basics like hyphenation. I've already written to Microsoft.
Anyone else suffering? Any known solutions?

This is the Home & Student version of MS Office with Office Service Pack 1 installed.

 

[ShawnD1]

It's best to avoid automatic anything. I'm not sure if it has ever been fixed, but the grammar check in word 97 was horrible.

Just read some online stuff about hyphens and grammar. You might not become an English guru, but you won't ever need to read over the entire document a second time just to make sure Word hasn't screwed-up anything.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

It's a new sletter. You dont know what that is?

 

[FeuerFrei]

I know a bit about hyphenating, but I've been instructed not to use this computer (with Word 2007) anymore for 'new-sletter' publication. Risk of errors is too high.

I really find it hard to believe no one else has noticed this. Even Googling for a solution turned up no complaints. Ignorance is bliss.

Here's hoping MS Publisher can do better.

 

[nerp]

I write for a living and use Word 2007 on three different machines. I've never seen this. When I do hyphenate it's been perfect.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Anyone else out there noticing frequent hyphenation screwups in Word? Please check in.

I find it hard to believe it's simply my installation of Word. Using Vista BTW.

Been over a year since I started this thread but I'm still stuck correcting Word 2007's hyphenation foul-ups.
I tried MS Publisher a while back, but it couldn't even display Word documents correctly for crying out loud. How ridiculous is THAT?!?! >_<

 

[bruceb]

See link below:

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-use-automatic-hyphenation-in-word-2007.html

Among other things, you can tun off hypenation or do it manually.

 

[netbids]

Hey FeuerFrei,

Just thought I'd let you know that I'm having the same problem. I'm running Word 2007 on XP SP3. Usually Word hyphenates correctly, but every so often it really screws up. For me, this is a very serious problem because I'm writing a book. Who wants to check every hyphen in a 200+ page book? I think the reason you and I are the only ones to notice this problem and to post about it on here (so far) is that most people aren't very observant. I sure wish I knew the solution because I certainly don't want to manually hyphenate my book. BTW, my copy of Word came bundled as part of Office.

 

[nerp]

Are you guys in print view or another view?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Hey FeuerFrei,

Just thought I'd let you know that I'm having the same problem. I'm running Word 2007 on XP SP3. Usually Word hyphenates correctly, but every so often it really screws up. For me, this is a very serious problem because I'm writing a book. Who wants to check every hyphen in a 200+ page book? I think the reason you and I are the only ones to notice this problem and to post about it on here (so far) is that most people aren't very observant. I sure wish I knew the solution because I certainly don't want to manually hyphenate my book. BTW, my copy of Word came bundled as part of Office.

The answer is you don't check your hyphens beyond the usual rereading of your manuscript. That is what proof readers are for. You are too close to the work to do a good job.

 

[netbids]

Nerp,

I'm in Print Layout view because it allows me to view two full 8.5 x 11 pages side by side on a 24" widescreen LCD monitor. I switched to Draft view to see what would happen, and the hyphenations changed. So, this may be part of the problem.

The answer is you don't check your hyphens beyond the usual rereading of your manuscript. That is what proof readers are for. You are too close to the work to do a good job.

Sorry, but you don't know what you are talking about. Because of the technical and deep, spiritual nature of my writings, I seldom produce even half a page per day. Consequently, I usually end up re-reading each section dozens of times before I'm done with them, which enables me to catch just about everything. And what I don't catch, my wife usually does. But the extent to which Word screws up some of its hyphenations are so obvious that it doesn't take a proofreader to catch them. Here's a classic example:

"Chr-ist"

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Nerp,

I'm in Print Layout view because it allows me to view two full 8.5 x 11 pages side by side on a 24" widescreen LCD monitor. I switched to Draft view to see what would happen, and the hyphenations changed. So, this may be part of the problem.



Sorry, but you don't know what you are talking about. Because of the technical and deep, spiritual nature of my writings, I seldom produce even half a page per day. Consequently, I usually end up re-reading each section dozens of times before I'm done with them, which enables me to catch just about everything. And what I don't catch, my wife usually does. But the extent to which Word screws up some of its hyphenations are so obvious that it doesn't take a proofreader to catch them. Here's a classic example:

"Chr-ist"

I didn't say you shouldn't fix the problems you find, I said you are too close to your work to rely on yourself to catch everything. Everyone's mind fills in the blanks especially when you are the one writing the great American novel. Hint: "Women I Have Fapped To" is neither technical or deeply spiritual.

Having your wife proof read is a good start. However, if you ever wish to have your weighty tome published, a professional proof reader is the way to go.

Back to topic, I have not experienced the problem with 2003 either. I haven't felt the need to upgrade though.

 

[netbids]

I didn't say you shouldn't fix the problems you find, I said you are too close to your work to rely on yourself to catch everything. Everyone's mind fills in the blanks especially when you are the one writing the great American novel. Hint: "Women I Have Fapped To" is neither technical or deeply spiritual.

Having your wife proof read is a good start. However, if you ever wish to have your weighty tome published, a professional proof reader is the way to go.

I apologize for misunderstanding your point, Magnus. It never occurred to me that you were making a suggestion rather than a criticism because I'm planning to self-publish using a POD publisher. Depending on which one I end up using, I may not have the luxury of a proofreader fixing Word's hyphenation screw-ups. So, more than likely, that responsibility will fall on my shoulders.

Earlier today it occurred to me that another possible cause or contributing factor to the hyphenation problems I'm seeing in Word is the fact that I started this book project in Word 97 and then transferred it to Word 2007 a year ago when I decided to buy a new PC because my monitor for my old PC died. The first time I saved my file in Word 2007 (and ever since), I saved it as a Word 97-2003 document so that it would remain backward compatible. Consequently, Word 2007 is working in "compatibility mode." Any thoughts on this?

 

[FeuerFrei]

(My apologies for lack of follow-up. I post in the Software forum so rarely I neglected to check in on the thread.)

See link below:

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-use-automatic-hyphenation-in-word-2007.html

Among other things, you can tun off hypenation or do it manually.

Thanks for the input, but I already know the workarounds mostly. The goal of this thread was to both determine the scope of the dysfunction and find a way to restore reliable, error-free auto-hyphenation like I enjoyed in Word 2003. I was hoping there was some kind of Windows or Office patch I could apply, to fix what Microsoft broke.

Are you guys in print view or another view?

'Print Layout' view. I've never used the other views. They tend to screw up the page rendering - just tried it out.

...
Earlier today it occurred to me that another possible cause or contributing factor to the hyphenation problems I'm seeing in Word is the fact that I started this book project in Word 97 and then transferred it to Word 2007 a year ago when I decided to buy a new PC because my monitor for my old PC died. The first time I saved my file in Word 2007 (and ever since), I saved it as a Word 97-2003 document so that it would remain backward compatible. Consequently, Word 2007 is working in "compatibility mode." Any thoughts on this?

No thoughts. My hyphenation errors appear in Word 2007's native .docx documents, so Word should be unhindered by backwards-compatibility constraints.


For further lolz at Microsoft's expense, here's some more hyphenation goofs:

• lo-wering
• moreo-ver
• le-vels
• fun-draiser