Microsoft ends age old debate, flags double spaces as errors in Word

If you use two spaces after a period, Word will highlight it as an error and offer to correct it to a single space instead using the app’s Editor capabilities.

Word users can turn off this feature. (Reuters)

Microsoft has finally ended the age-old space debate by siding with people who think that a single space after a period (or a full stop) is correct.

The company has started rolling out an update to Word that will flag two spaces after a period. Simply said, if you use two spaces after a period, Word will highlight it as an error and offer to correct it to a single space instead using the app's Editor capabilities.

"As the crux of the great spacing debate, we know this is a stylistic choice that may not be the preference for all writers, which is why we continue to test with users and enable these suggestions to be easily accepted, ignored, or flat out dismissed in Editor," Kirk Gregersen, partner director of program management at Microsoft said in a statement to The Verge.

The company recently started testing the feature on the desktop version of Word and it is likely to arrive on your Windows PCs soon.

Meanwhile, the feature has already created a buzz on Twitter with a lot of people getting frustrated with the update. Here what they are saying:

 

So many people doing so many things wrong.

- Single space after period
- yyyy-mm-dd
- Jam before cream

It's not difficult to be civilised 😃

— Mike Belch (@cheesymike) April 25, 2020

At a time of social distancing, why is Microsoft trying to force people to put their sentences closer together?

More seriously, if you decide to comply with the new orthodoxy, you can do a "find & replace" to change all instances of two spaces to one space in a single step.

— Jon Alan Schmidt (@JonAlanSchmidt) April 23, 2020

So we just let Microsoft rule the literary world? I view a single space as a sign of the writer's laziness or a lack of attention to detail.

— Ron Smith (@RonSmithRS) April 11, 2020

The good news is that if you are a two-spacer, you will still be able to ignore the suggestion and use two spaces instead of one after a period. In addition to that, you will be able to turn off this feature or the writing-style suggestion feature altogether.