WD97: Nonbreaking Space Missing Using French Language (174513)

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Word 97, when you use any of the French international keyboard settings, or set the text language of your document to French, a nonbreaking space may not be added automatically before the following characters:

Colon (:)
Exclamation Point (!)
Question Mark (?)
Semicolon (;)

This behavior also occurs with the following French keyboard and language settings:

French (Belgian)
French (Canadian)
French (Luxembourg)
French (Standard)
French (Swiss)

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, turn on the 'Straight quotes' with 'smart quotes' option. To do this, follow these steps:

On the Tools menu, click AutoCorrect.
Click the AutoFormat as you type tab.
Under Replace As You Type, click to select the 'Straight quotes' with 'smart quotes' check box, and then click OK.

STATUS

This behavior is by design. When the 'Straight quotes' with 'smart quotes' option is turned off, the non-breaking space requirement for certain characters in the French language is also turned off.

MORE INFORMATION

French typography requires a non-breaking space before certain characters of the French language. Word 97 has added functionality to provide for this requirement.

To set the language for the text of your document, select the text that you want to format with a language. To apply the language, point to Language on the Tools menu and click Set Language.

For additional information on how to enable support for multiple languages in Windows 95, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: