WD2000: Nonbreaking Space Missing Using French Language (211371)

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Word, when you use any of the French international keyboard settings, set the text language of your document to French, or you have French enabled in Office Language Settings, 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:

Belgium (Belgian)
Cameroon
Canada
Cote d'Ivoire
Democratic Republic of Congo
France (Standard)
Luxembourg
Mali
Monaco
Reunion
Senegal
Switzerland (Swiss)
West Indies

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 2000 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, please click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: