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Participant
April 2, 2024
Question

How to add a second space

  • April 2, 2024
  • 4 replies
  • 375 views

I need to add a second space after an end of sentence period. 

This topic has been closed for replies.

4 replies

Mike Witherell
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 2, 2024

You might be working for the legal industry? Lawyers, oddly, have adopted an insistence on 2 spaces after a period (stop). I have never found out why they took this position, though.

Mike Witherell
Willi Adelberger
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 2, 2024

I strongly recommend never to do it as it is a bad typographical error.  But to insert it, you can use find / replce, with GREP you can find exceptions. 

Peter Kahrel
Community Expert
Community Expert
April 2, 2024

The easy answer is that you shouldn't do it. It's a habit from old typewriter days, and used in the US mainly. All typography books tell you not to do it.

 

But if you must, you'll have a hard time automating it. You'll have to work out whether a period is an end-of-sentence period or one after an initial, an abbreviation, or any other period that should not have two spaces after it.. Some algorithm may exist, you can try finding one on the web.

Participant
April 2, 2024

I forgot some important information. This is needed in many places in a large document. Most have two spaces already, but I don't want to have to go through 280 pages looking for the single space. 

Robert at ID-Tasker
Legend
April 2, 2024

After EVERY sentence?

 

Can you show a screenshot?

Turn on SHOW HIDDEN CHARACTERS and show all edges and Preview Mode NORMAL.