What turns two hyphens in to an em-dash, and how do I stop that?

When typing -- at least in basic applications such as TextEdit and Mail -- two hyphens get turned into em-dashes. I don't want this to happen. I freely type en- and em-dashes myself, and when I type two hyphens I want them to stay that way (for various reasons). What changes the two hyphens into an em-dash and how do I stop it?

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4), Hi-Res anti-glare wide screen

Posted on Jun 28, 2016 7:55 AM

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Posted on Jun 28, 2016 8:15 AM

You may also have an automatic text replacement set in the Keyboard section of System Preferences. To check that open the System Preferences app and follow this:


System Preferences > Keyboard > Text

Look for the two hyphens in the left column of the list. To remove that automatic text replacement, select the line with the 2 hyphens and click on the minus sign below the list.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 28, 2016 8:15 AM in response to MLModel

You may also have an automatic text replacement set in the Keyboard section of System Preferences. To check that open the System Preferences app and follow this:


System Preferences > Keyboard > Text

Look for the two hyphens in the left column of the list. To remove that automatic text replacement, select the line with the 2 hyphens and click on the minus sign below the list.

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What turns two hyphens in to an em-dash, and how do I stop that?

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