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I am talking about these settings:

enter image description here

Here it says The Add button does not become enabled until you type some text in the:- With: - box.

But that's not the case here; the button stays gray:

enter image description here

Am I missing something?

2 Answers 2

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I think that you have entered in the Replace field the value of -- , which ends with a blank.

Auto Correct does not accept a blank at the end or the beginning of the "Replace" string, because apparently this does not agree with its algorithm for identifying the strings. Perhaps because a blank in the input will launch the Auto Correct string-search, so the blank itself cannot be searched-for unless it is in the middle of the string.

As your entry is invalid, Word will not let you enter it. The Add button will stay disabled as long as you have not removed that ending blank.

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  • What was shown is two hyphens without an intervening space. Nov 18, 2021 at 17:51
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    @CharlesKenyon: Not "intervening" - following. "that ends with a blank".
    – harrymc
    Nov 18, 2021 at 19:28
  • I thought I had tested with full words too, but the space must have slipped there too.
    – cipricus
    Nov 18, 2021 at 21:32
  • OK. What exact sequence needs to be replaced? This is probably worth a new question.
    – harrymc
    Nov 18, 2021 at 22:20
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    I have added in my answer my theory for this behavior of Word. I think that if I had programmed the algorithm the effect would have been the same, unless I was trying real hard to include starting/ending blanks in the algorithm.
    – harrymc
    Nov 19, 2021 at 8:58
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What you are asking for may be interfering with an AutoFormat as you type setting. That replaces two hyphens with an en-dash. Try checking that box and seeing if it does what you want. This also replaces a single hyphen surrounded by spaces between words with an en-dash.

AutoFormat as you type dialog

P.S. I would recommend against checking the box to automatically use suggestions from the spelling checker.

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  • 1
    I think you mean em-dash, and it looks like Word actually inserts an en-dash by default
    – GammaGames
    Nov 18, 2021 at 22:19
  • I will come back to clarify this when I have more time. Now what I see is that AutoFormat (as said in your image) replaces -- with , (e.g. -- now. becomes – now.). But the same happens with just - ( - now. becomes – now.. I don't know if by AutoFormat or other setting).
    – cipricus
    Nov 18, 2021 at 22:30
  • Oddly, setting corrector to a language for which I don't even have proofing tools installed I can write something like So – then so – then. Both dashes, created by autoformat, are en-dashes, the first was typed -, the second was typed -- (an em-dash would be this: ).
    – cipricus
    Nov 18, 2021 at 23:50
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    @GammaGames you are correct that it is an en-dash. I have corrected my answer. Nov 19, 2021 at 0:35
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    @cipricus AutoCorrect is language specific. Both - and -- when surrounded with spaces and between words will be replaced with an en-dash. Nov 19, 2021 at 0:38

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