Why is Publisher hyphenating my words? That’s probably one of the most common questions I hear about Microsoft Publisher. There’s a good reason for it, but I understand if you want to disable it. So I’ll answer both questions.
How to stop Publisher from hyphenating words
To disable hyphenation in Publsiher, select a text box, then click the Text Box Tools Format tab on the Ribbon and locate the Text group. The Hyphenation dialog box will appear. Modify your hyphenation settings as desired. To remove all hyphenation, uncheck the box labeled Automatically hyphenate this story.
Why Publisher hyphenates
Publisher isn’t quite what I’d call a professional desktop publishing program, but hyphenation is one place where it tries. It’s been a long time, but as a former editor and publisher, I know one of the hardest things to do is cram everything you need onto a page. Hyphenation is an easy way to get just a few more words on the page, since you can squeeze a few syllables onto the end of each line.
It also makes the page read a little bit better. Those ragged edges on the far right can be a bit unattractive. Hyphenation makes those edges a little less ragged.
Finally, if you justify text, hyphenation makes justified text look a lot better. Justification is adding spaces in between words so the words fill each line. If you hyphenate, that reduces the number of spaces your software has to add, so the text looks more natural. I remember some of the journalism textbooks I read in the early 1990s telling me not to justify text unless my software also hyphenates. When you pick up a professionally published book or magazine, chances are it has hyphenated words in it.
So, while you certainly can turn off hyphenation in Publisher, I would actually recommend you don’t. Your publication will probably look better in the end with hyphenation enabled.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.