Understanding Automatic Spacing

Posted by Marie Roberts ^® , Wed, Aug 28, 2002, 08:30:49

Automatic spacing is another way Instant Text can save keystrokes. You can set it to insert one or two spaces after punctuation such as a period, question mark, comma, colon etc. Each can be set individually in the Options|Automatic Spacing dialog box.

If you would prefer to type your own spaces after punctuation you can set each one to zero. I recommend leaving the Enable Automatic Spacing box checked, though. This ensures that you get a space after an expansion (but not after punctuation which you type in manually, if the boxes are set to zero), which is necessary in order to take advantage of continuations.

With automatic spacing enabled it is easy, until you are used to it, to accidentally type a space yourself after a punctuation mark or an expansion. No problem! Simply check Optimize Autospace and Instant Text will remove these “accidental” spaces for you, leaving you with just the one (or two) you requested.

If you happen to need a period, comma, or other punctuation after an expanded word or phrase there is no need to backspace to remove the IT-generated space. Hitting a punctuation key at this stage causes Instant Text to take out the unwanted space and put the period, comma, etc., just where you want it. Just let your fingers run on automatic pilot; Instant Text is intuitive enough to insert what you want, not necessarily what you type!

Happy typing.

MarieR