Reason 220 why Microsoft Word is inferior and why I keep pulling my hair out while editing:


Article 284897 from Microsoft Help and Support page:

SYMPTOMS
When you insert hyphens in text in Microsoft Word, some of the hyphens are converted into long dashes (also called en dashes).

"cause and effect hypothesis" becomes "cause—and-effect hypothesis" after typing the second hyphen - Ed.

WORKAROUND
To work around this issue, use one of the following methods:

If you want to use hyphens before and after your text, click AutoCorrect Options. This appears when you move the pointer over the corrected hyphen. Then, click Undo Dash.

When you use AutoCorrect Options, you can also click Stop Automatically Creating Dashes, or click Control AutoCorrect Options to open the AutoCorrect dialog box.

If you want to use en dashes instead of hyphens, insert a space before the hyphen. Word will automatically convert the hyphen into an en dash.

STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

In other words, take more time out of your day for some extra keystrokes. Yeah, thanks for confirming it's a problem.

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In case anyone is wondering, Reason 46 is that the Replace All button is (in my opinion stupidly) placed between the Find Next and Replace buttons in the Find and Replace box so that I have a great chance of accidentally hitting it. Reason 115 is that the damn Find and Replace box is so large that it has to automatically move itself all around to avoid blocking the text that you need to see.