Word: Enable hyphenation - how to do it

Word has a special feature that automatically separates words at the end of the line. However, this so-called hyphenation must be activated manually in Word's menu before use. How to activate it and what other settings are possible, you can read here.

How to enable hyphenation in Word

Word has a built-in hyphenation feature that you can enable manually. If you are writing longer texts with Word, it is recommended that you enable the use of hyphenation, as it prevents large gaps from appearing at the end of lines or between words.

1. If you have Word 2007 or later, hyphenation is disabled by default. To enable automatic hyphenation, please switch to the "Layout"
2. Navigate to the "Page Setup" > "Hyphenation" section and check "Automatic".
3. To exclude individual sections or paragraphs of your document from hyphenation, right-click on the corresponding paragraph and click "No Hyphenation" in the "Line and Page Breaks" tab of the window that opens.
4. Confirm your selection finally with "OK".

Make changes to the hyphenation in Word

Have you activated the hyphenation, there is then the possibility to adjust it individually. To do this, please select the entry "Hyphenation options" under "Layout" > "Page setup" > "Hyphenation". This will open a new window in which you can specify, for example, the maximum number of hyphens that can follow each other. Furthermore, under "Manual" it is possible to go through the words currently hyphenated in your text and change the hyphenation.