Enhancement Request For Spacing Edit

[Writer87]

Requesting a feature that has an option to check for spacing between words and sentences. For instance, it's too easy to leave extra spaces between words. Or even between sentences. It would require a spacing setting (1,2, or 3 spaces) between sentences. Currently, Microsoft Word is the only word program that has this feature. The missing feature has kept me from using Textmaker. Spacing errors are a common mistake, particularly with cheap keyboards. Please consider incorporating this much needed feature.

[SuperTech]

Thanks for your post! Good news — this is actually already covered. TextMaker uses LanguageTool for grammar checking, which includes detection of multiple spaces. Enable it under Options > Language > "Use LanguageTool for grammar check", and spacing errors will be highlighted directly in your document, as shown in the screenshot below.

TM with LanguageTools.png (5.14 KiB) Viewed 1075 times

[Woody44]

Thanks for your post! Good news — this is actually already covered. TextMaker uses LanguageTool for grammar checking, which includes detection of multiple spaces. Enable it under Options > Language > "Use LanguageTool for grammar check", and spacing errors will be highlighted directly in your document, as shown in the screenshot below.

TM with LanguageTools.png

Does it automatically correct all instances of double spaces to single spaces, or do you have to go through the entire document to tell it to correct each instance individually?

Beyond that, if this correction is via LanguageTool and LanguageTool is the grammar checker -- I'll never see it. I consider myself to be a good writer, but my style is what some people describe as "formal" and other people describe as "archaic" Whatever name is applied to it, if I use a computer grammar checker I am plagued with a tsunami of false errors -- the programs flag as errors things that are grammatically correct but which are not what whoever programs the grammar checkers is/are accustomed to seeing.

As a result, I ALWAYS keep the grammar checker deactivated -- I did this in Word, I do this with TextMaker, and when I have occasion to use LibreOffice I do the same in LibreOffice. Removal of extra spaces should not rely on the grammar checker. It should be hard coded into the auto-correct function, just like checking for two letters capitalized at the beginning of a word. It should be a user-selectable toggle, because there are still some people who insist that two spaces after a period is correct -- but ALL style guides for U.S. English say to use a single space, and I believe the same applies to UK English. So the default should be to change double spaces to single spaces, with an option to deactivate that correction.

[SuperTech]

If you'd prefer not to use LanguageTool, Find & Replace works just as well for cleaning up multiple spaces — search for two spaces and replace with one, repeating until no doubles remain. This is essentially the same approach MS Word uses under the hood.

[Writer87]

I tried the grammar check with several test sentences. It didn't seem to be working right. With 8 instances of extra spacing, it identified 4, and did nothing with the rest.

[Woody44]

If you'd prefer not to use LanguageTool, Find & Replace works just as well for cleaning up multiple spaces — search for two spaces and replace with one, repeating until no doubles remain. This is essentially the same approach MS Word uses under the hood.

Yes, I understand that using Find & Replace is what users of Microsoft Word have to do. And it works.

Nonetheless, it would be much better if this could be coded into autocorrect so that users don't have to go through the step of doing a manual find & replace.

[SuperTech]

I tried the grammar check with several test sentences. It didn't seem to be working right. With 8 instances of extra spacing, it identified 4, and did nothing with the rest.

Could you please share the document you are experiencing this problem with?

[Writer87]

Used this simple sentence: "This is a test document. Test sentence 2. Test sentence 3. Test sentence 4. Test sentence 5." I found that if I did the review, changed one of the space corrections that was identified, and ran the test again, it did not pick up any of the remaining errors. So it appears that the edit only works once. In other words, if you miss making the changes the first time, you are out of luck. Thanks for your prompt reply.