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Some of the content in this topic may not be applicable to some languages.

The feature described in this Help topic is only available if support for the language you want to use is enabled through Microsoft Office Language Settings.

1. Install the hyphenation tool for the language you want.

   If you hyphenate text in another language, and the correct hyphenation tool isn't available on your computer, then Microsoft Word will try to install it automatically. If Word can't install the correct hyphenation tool, then you may need to obtain Microsoft Office 2003 Proofing Tools.

2. Turn on automatic language detection.

   How?

   If you're working in more than one language within a document, Microsoft Word can automatically detect each language as you type it.

   1. On the Tools menu, point to Language, and then click Set Language.
   2. Select the Detect language automatically check box.

   Notes

   • To turn off automatic language detection in your document, clear the Detect language automatically check box.

   • To turn off the automatic detection of a particular language, remove it from the list of enabled languages in the Microsoft Office Language Settings tool. Remove the language only if you don't want to use features particular to that language (for example, date formats) in Word and other Microsoft Office programs.

3. Hyphenate text as usual.

   How?

   Do any of the following:

   Automatically hyphenate all of a document

   1. On the Tools menu, point to Language, and then click Hyphenation.
   2. Select the Automatically hyphenate document check box.
   3. In the Hyphenation zone box, enter the amount of space to leave between the end of the last word in a line and the right margin.

      To reduce the number of hyphens, make the hyphenation zone wider. To reduce the raggedness of the right margin, make the hyphenation zone narrower.

   4. In the Limit consecutive hyphens to box, enter the number of consecutive lines that can be hyphenated.

   Automatically hyphenate part of a document

   1. Select the text you don't want to hyphenate.

   2. On the Format menu, click Paragraph, click the Line and Page Breaks tab, and then select the Don't hyphenate check box.

   3. Click OK.

   4. On the Tools menu, point to Language, and then click Hyphenation.
   5. Select the Automatically hyphenate document check box.
   6. In the Hyphenation zone box, enter the amount of space to leave between the end of the last word in a line and the right margin.

      To reduce the number of hyphens, make the hyphenation zone wider. To reduce the raggedness of the right margin, make the hyphenation zone narrower.

   7. In the Limit consecutive hyphens to box, enter the number of consecutive lines that can be hyphenated.

   Manually hyphenate all of a document

   1. Make sure no text is selected.

   2. On the Tools menu, point to Language, and then click Hyphenation.
   3. Click Manual.
   4. If Microsoft Word identifies a word or phrase to hyphenate, do one of the following:
      • To insert an optional hyphen (optional hyphen: A hyphen that's used to control where a word or phrase breaks if it falls at the end of a line. For example, you can specify that the word "nonprinting" breaks as "non-printing" rather than "nonprint-ing.") in the location Word proposes, click Yes.
      • To insert an optional hyphen in another part of the word, use the arrow keys or mouse to move the insertion point to that location, and then click Yes.

   Manually hyphenate part of a document

   1. Select the text you want to hyphenate.
   2. On the Tools menu, point to Language, and then click Hyphenation.
   3. Click Manual.
   4. If Microsoft Word identifies a word or phrase to hyphenate, do one of the following:
      • To insert an optional hyphen (optional hyphen: A hyphen that's used to control where a word or phrase breaks if it falls at the end of a line. For example, you can specify that the word "nonprinting" breaks as "non-printing" rather than "nonprint-ing.") in the location Word proposes, click Yes.
      • To insert an optional hyphen in another part of the word, use the arrow keys or mouse to move the insertion point to that location, and then click Yes.