Teacher Tech blog with Alice Keeler

Paperless Is Not a Pedagogy

Alice Keeler

Google Docs Tip: One Spacebar or Two?

Google Docs Tip: One Spacebar or Two?

spacebar

 

When typewriters were used to type essays there was a need for two spaces after the period. The font type was uniformly spaced so that the letter “i” took up the same amount of space as the letter “b.” Two spaces at the end of the sentence visually broke up the type. With modern type font on a computer where each letter only takes up as much space as it needs, the need for the extra space is not necessary.

Habits Die Hard

If you are in the habit of two spaces after the period you are likely to make this error sometimes. Even without being in the habit of two spaces, occasionally we will hit an extra space between words.

Control F

Control F on a PC (Command F on a Mac) does a FIND. Instead of typing a word into the find box, type two spaces.

Dot Dot Dot

If you are using Google Docs you will notice that there is a button with a dot dot dot icon. This allows you to open a dialogue box to replace. 
google find and replace

Replace

In the find and replace, find two spaces and replace with one space. Replace all. I try to always do this before I submit a paper. Usually there is at least one place that I made this mistake.
Replace two spaces with one space

 

7 thoughts on “Google Docs Tip: One Spacebar or Two?

  1. Oh, and if you’re editing a document created in Google Drive, it looks like you can do Ctrl H to get right to a “Find and Replace” dialogue box! It looks like it doesn’t work on documents imported from Word, though.WooHOO, one less step!

  2. Could have used this a month ago. Finally broke myself of the two space habit. But then, when writing the dissertation, I had to go back to two. Sigh. Neither have
    universities caught up with the digital world when it comes to submitting dissertations.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

© 2024 All Rights Reserved.

💥 FREE OTIS WORKSHOP

Join Alice Keeler, Thursday Mar 21st or register to gain access to the recording.
Create a free OTIS account.

Join Alice Keeler for this session as we learn how to revolutionize your assessment strategies. We will dive into the essentials of crafting high-quality rubrics that go beyond traditional scoring methods to offer rich, meaningful feedback. We’ll learn about the components of an effective rubric and how to mathematically ensure the accuracy of your assessments.

Exit this pop up by pressing escape or clicking anywhere off the pop up.