Hello NVDA Group,

I do some writing avocationally, and the m- symbol is a popular way to
insert pauses as opposed to other punctuation marks. Can someone
advise me on how to
reproduce the symbol for the m- key? Will it work in composing email
as well as Word Processing with most programs?

The following did not appear to work when tried:
One work around is to use two dashes, type the next word with no
space, then go back to the end of the dashes and hit "enter." That may
turn it into an em dash. Then you just delete to remove the extra
spaces between the em dash and the word. You can also use Alt 0151.
And yes, it does matter and there is a difference so fix it if you
can. Your editor will thank you.

--
David Russell
david.sonofhashem@...
What I have found is that real friends
stand by you.
Jeffrey Archer

An em-dash can generally be inserted in most word processors by hitting a space, typing a hyphen, hitting a space then typing the next word then hitting space.  The hyphen (or en-dash) gets converted to an em-dash when the space is hit after the word following the hyphen you originally typed is pressed.  It has worked this way in MS-Word for as long as I can remember now, though the last version that I used for years before 2016 was 2010, and I have no specific memory of what Word 2007 did.  If you use double hyphens (with no spaces) these get converted to an em-dash whether you have spaces before the double hyphen or after the double hyphen but the conversion still happens at the same point in time, when you hit the space bar after the word that follows the double hyphens.

It's impossible to say whether this works in e-mail as most clients will allow you to tweak all sorts of settings.  Outlook is set up by default to do the double dash conversion to an em-dash.

For anyone curious about the difference between an en-dash and em-dash, and when each should be used, see any one of the search results from:  https://duckduckgo.com/?q=what+is+the+difference+between+an+em-dash+and+an+en-dash
--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 1809, Build 17763  

Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.

           ~ Edward Abbey

 

 

And, a self-correction here on Word's "self-correction":    word space hyphen space following word space results in an en-dash being generated between each word with the correct blank space on each side of the en-dash

word double hyphen word space results in an em-dash, with no spaces, which is the proper format, being generated between two words

It's easy for me to see the difference between a hyphen and an en-dash, or em-dash, but when there's only an en-dash and an em-dash visible the difference in length is not so much that my eye easily catches it.
--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 1809, Build 17763  

Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.

           ~ Edward Abbey

 

 

Hello Everyone,

Brian and Richard, thanks for your further help with the en-dash and
em-dash. I will read up concerning the differences.

Someone on another forum, stated if in Facebook, three hyphens or
dashes in a row will convert to em-dash in text. Again, I am using
Jarte, which is based on Notepad. Thanks.

David

--
David Russell
david.sonofhashem@...

From the Jarte Release Notes page, for Release 2.5:

Ctrl + -     En-dash
Shift + Ctrl + -   Em-dash
--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 1809, Build 17763  

Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.

           ~ Edward Abbey

 

 

I use m-dashes a lot and I use the ALT+0151 and it inserts them everywhere I've tried ... Notepad, Word, emails, this email — for example.

If the Alt number pad keystroke isn't workikng for you do you have your num lock key on and are you typing it on the separate number pad rather than the number row above the letters? It does need to be typed on the number pad and with num lock active.

also, like with any Alt shortcut, you do need to leave the ALT key pressed down while typing 0, 1, 5, and 1 in turn. I'd be surprised if it isn't working unless it is something specific to the program you're typing in.

Hope that helps :)

Giles

Its not a construct II like for us, so to speak, though I understand for sighties it looks nice.
Myself I prefer other ways of separating content that is, shall we say more direct.
Brian

bglists@...
Sent via blueyonder.
Please address personal E-mail to:-
briang1@..., putting 'Brian Gaff'
in the display name field.

Hi NVDA Users,

Thanks to each of you for your help with how to type the emdash or
endash from the computer. I did find the easiest way to do this with
Jarte in one of the group posts, shift plus dash or shift control and
dash simultaneously.
Good to go as we say in my region of the world..

--
David Russell
david.sonofhashem@...