Is there a way to automatically replace hyphen with dash when writing?

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Is there a way to automatically replace hyphen with dash when writing?

Been trying to solve this for a few days now. I'm writing a lot – about one novel a month – and double hyphen or option key just doesn't cut it for me. Since dialogues in Poland are constructed with dashes (or em-dashes), not quotation marks, it's kind of important. 😉😉

I've tried working on MS Word – laggy as ****, even without duplicated fonts. LibreOffice works pretty good though (yet not like a charm). Both apps have the option to change hyphen to dash, Pages in Yosemite – or rather the Yosemite itself – doesn't seem to have it.

Any help would be very appreciated.

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Nov 12, 2014 2:37 PM

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Answer 1

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iW00

Level 6

8,664 points

Nov 12, 2014 3:14 PM in response to r3m0

You can try to use it a keyboard settings: go to  > System Preferences > Keyboard > Text and add to replace single hyphen "-" (or double hyphen "--") with a dash "–".

BTW. if you are writting books, i would suggest to try some different apps than MS Office, LibreOffice or Pages. Have a look at http://www.scribus.net/canvas/Scribus

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Answer 2

iW00

Level 6

8,664 points

Nov 12, 2014 3:49 PM in response to r3m0

iW00 wrote:

You can try to use it a keyboard settings: go to  > System Preferences > Keyboard > Text and add to replace single hyphen "-" (or double hyphen "--") with a dash "–".

IMHO it is way easier to press "-" sign twice than ALT+-.

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Answer 3

iW00

Level 6

8,664 points

Nov 13, 2014 1:59 PM in response to r3m0

r3m0 wrote:

Yeah, but when you have like 700.000 characters to type, the double-click becomes something of an inconvenience.

😉

Still, easier to tap hyphen twice than push ALT+hypen all the time.

Other option would be some 3rd party app like TextExpander or other similar app.

Other option: use search+replace once you have your document ready.

r3m0 wrote:

😉I know that in previous versions of Pages it was possible to replace one character with another, shame they changed it.

😉

Then use older Pages app. It's still compatible with Yosemite. If you have previously use older pages app on your mac, then it should be still on your mac in the "/Applications/iWork '09" folder.

You can always send a feedback to Apple: go to www.apple.com/feedback OR (while pages app is open) by going to Pages > Provide Pages feedback

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Answer 4

Barney-15E

Level 10

125,422 points

Nov 12, 2014 4:11 PM in response to r3m0

Edit menu, Substitutions, Smart Dashes.

Sorry, that seems to only do an em-dash

Also, you can type an en-dash with option-hyphen and an em-dash with option-shift-hyphen.

I don’t know if that applies to a non-US keyboard.

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Answer 5

baltwo

Level 9

62,456 points

Nov 12, 2014 3:13 PM in response to r3m0

Add it as a text substitution in the Language&Region pref Pane.

27" i7 iMac (Mid 2011) refurb, OS X Yo (10.10), Mavs, ML & SL, G4 450 MP w/10.5 & 9.2.2

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Answer 6

r3m0 Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 12, 2014 3:57 PM in response to baltwo

Thanks for the suggestion – however Yosemite only allows replacing two characters for one. I cannot find a way to bypass that requirement. 😉😉

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Answer 7

r3m0 Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 12, 2014 3:43 PM in response to iW00

Thanks for the suggestion – however Yosemite only allows replacing two characters for one. I cannot find a way to do 1:1 ratio. 😉

Haven't tested Scribus, though Ulysses and Scrivener seems to be golden – shame the publishing industry relies only on .docx. It doesn't mean that much while writing – but working with an editor could be a serious problem. 😉

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Answer 8

r3m0 Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 12, 2014 3:56 PM in response to iW00

Yeah, but when you have like 700.000 characters to type, the double-click becomes something of an inconvenience. 😉 I know that in previous versions of Pages it was possible to replace one character with another, shame they changed it.

Thanks anyway! It's 00:55 in Poland, so good night I guess. 😉

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