Typing apostrophe results in extra space

dlbuch 0 Reputation points
2026-09-04T15:52:41.27+00:00

On iPad but not on MAC when I type "don't" I get "don' t".

How do I fix this?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | iOS
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  1. dlbuch 0 Reputation points
    2026-09-04T16:08:11.1333333+00:00

    AI answer:

    On iPad, this is typically controlled by the device keyboard settings rather than Word itself. Try this path first: Open iPad Settings. Go to General > Keyboard. Turn Auto-Correction Off. Also review other automatic keyboard options there, such as auto-capitalization and predictive word suggestions, and turn them off if needed. If Microsoft SwiftKey is being used on the iPad instead of the Apple keyboard: Open the Microsoft SwiftKey app. Tap Settings. Turn Autocorrect Off. This should stop the keyboard from changing punctuation behavior while typing words like don't.

    Auto-Correction was already turned off.

    I turned off Auto-Correction and Predictive Text

    Microsoft SwiftKey is not being used.

    The problem still exists! Typing "don't" within Word on my iPad still produces "don' t".

    How do I fix this?

    (BTW: Text Replacement', a facility within iOS is unrelated to to this issue as there are no replacements for apostrophe. (Text Replacement is very important on my iPad so I cannot turn it off.)

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  2. Hendrix-V 18,605 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-09-05T06:03:21.1066667+00:00

    Hi dlbuch,

    Thank you for the additional details. Since Auto-Correction and Predictive Text are already disabled, SwiftKey is not installed, and the issue persists, the behavior is less likely to be related to the standard iPad keyboard correction settings.

    To help narrow down the cause, could you please check the following:

    • Does this happen in all Word documents, including a brand-new blank document, or only in a specific document?
    • If you type "don't" in another app such as Notes or Mail on the same iPad, does it appear correctly, or do you still get "don' t"?
    • What keyboard language/layout is currently active on the iPad (for example, English US, English UK, or another language)?
    • When the issue occurs, is Word inserting a straight apostrophe (') or a curly apostrophe (’)?

    These details will help determine whether the behavior is related to Word itself, a document-specific setting, or the active keyboard layout.

    Let me know if you need further assistance, feel free to ask me by clicking "Add Comment" or "Add Answer" if you cannot add comment so your response will be visible. Thanks for your effort.


    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

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