How to Disable the Two Spaces After Period Error in Microsoft Word
Until recently, it was common practice to use two spaces after a period, a habit stemming from the era of typewriters. However, Microsoft Word now marks double spaces as a typo by default. If you prefer the traditional two-space method, here’s how to prevent Word from flagging it as an error.
Microsoft has confirmed that future updates will continue to treat double spaces as a mistake. To stop this from happening, you can adjust your settings. Word will respect this setting across regular updates, so you won’t be affected by any changes in the default behavior.
To adjust the setting, open a Word document and go to File > Options. In the Proofing section, click Settings. Scroll down to Punctuation Conventions, select Two Spaces under “Spaces Between Sentences,” and click OK.
With this change, Word will enforce two spaces and flag a single space after a period as an error. If you don’t mind how many spaces follow a period and prefer not to have Word check for this, simply select “Don’t check” and click OK.
If you’re still struggling to break the two-space habit, Word can automatically replace double spaces with a single space.