Unable to Find and Replace double-spaces to single-spaces
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Unable to Find and Replace double-spaces to single-spaces
Within the body of a document, using Ver. 4.1.5, I am unable to Find and Replace double spaces between sentences to single spaces. It's my impression in former versions, I was able to enter two spaces at the Find prompt and a single space at the Replace prompt, and the entire document would be changed.
In Ver. 4.1.5., I have not yet found a way to simply enter the two spaces in Find and a single space in Replace and have any changes made. I get a "not found" notice, and all double spaces at the end of sentences go unchanged.
EXAMPLE:
This is the first sentence. This is the second, following TWO SPACES
Need to change to:
This is the first sentence. This is the second, following ONE SPACE.
Thanks for any insight,
John D.
In Ver. 4.1.5., I have not yet found a way to simply enter the two spaces in Find and a single space in Replace and have any changes made. I get a "not found" notice, and all double spaces at the end of sentences go unchanged.
EXAMPLE:
This is the first sentence. This is the second, following TWO SPACES
Need to change to:
This is the first sentence. This is the second, following ONE SPACE.
Thanks for any insight,
John D.
OpenOffice 4.1.5 on Windows 7
Re: Unable to Find and Replace double-spaces to single-space
Works for me. Make certain to drop "More options" and check that Regular Expressions is unchecked.
Edit: it is possible that a double space at the start or the end of the document may not be found and replaced (I'm not certain about this)' best to turn on /View /non printing characters so that you can see these occurrences. |
Apache OpenOffice 4.1.15 on Xubuntu 22.04.4 LTS
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Re: Unable to Find and Replace double-spaces to single-space
Thanks, Rory,
Can you tell me in which section(s) I'll find: "More Options" and"Regular Expressions," please?
Many thanks,
John D.
Can you tell me in which section(s) I'll find: "More Options" and"Regular Expressions," please?
Many thanks,
John D.
OpenOffice 4.1.5 on Windows 7
Re: Unable to Find and Replace double-spaces to single-space
On the Find and Replace dialog you will see a dropdown for More Options. When you drop that down Regular Expressions is offered (amongst other options). Try this using the attached file - there should be 11 occurrences of double spaces. To find these enter ". " (<full stop><space><space> in Find), and ". " (<full stop><space>) in Replace.
- Attachments
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- Two spaces.odt
- (12.12 KiB) Downloaded 105 times
Apache OpenOffice 4.1.15 on Xubuntu 22.04.4 LTS
Re: Unable to Find and Replace double-spaces to single-space
I have installed Language Tool; as I type this will indicate two spaces by a wiggly blue underline (and some other errors also). I believe in a double space after a full stop or !, ?, to better set off a sentence. My choice - yours may differ. Chicago Manual of Style doesn't agree with me, but they are entitled to their opinion.
Apache OpenOffice 4.1.15 on Xubuntu 22.04.4 LTS
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Re: Unable to Find and Replace double-spaces to single-space
Is Language Tool a part of Open Office? I don't recall using it.
Thanks,
John
Thanks,
John
OpenOffice 4.1.5 on Windows 7
Re: Unable to Find and Replace double-spaces to single-space
Works fine for me. I typed two spaces in Find and one space in Replace. I then clicked Find and it found the first occurrence. Replace All changed both occurrences of two spaces with one space.
See [Tutorial] How to record a macro (and Regular Expressions)
As a new poster you will find much useful information in the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials, the up to date Writer guide and the Writer Manual. When a pop-up window opens, click the Help button for extensive help on that function - it is often more comprehensive than the manual.
If your problem is solved please view your first post in this thread and click the Edit button (top right in the post) and add [Solved] in front of the subject.
See [Tutorial] How to record a macro (and Regular Expressions)
As a new poster you will find much useful information in the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials, the up to date Writer guide and the Writer Manual. When a pop-up window opens, click the Help button for extensive help on that function - it is often more comprehensive than the manual.
If your problem is solved please view your first post in this thread and click the Edit button (top right in the post) and add [Solved] in front of the subject.
Last edited by John_Ha on Sat Jan 13, 2018 1:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
LO 6.4.4.2, Windows 10 Home 64 bit
See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.
Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.
Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
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Re: Unable to Find and Replace double-spaces to single-space
Hi John,
Just checking... This is with Open Office 4.1.5?
The procedure you describe is exactly what I used for years on an earlier version of Open Office with no problems.
I also have nothing selected under "Fewer Options" on my new 4.1.5 installation.
What's confounding is that it seems to "Find" double-spaces on *some* files, but not on all. Makes no sense.
Just checking... This is with Open Office 4.1.5?
The procedure you describe is exactly what I used for years on an earlier version of Open Office with no problems.
I also have nothing selected under "Fewer Options" on my new 4.1.5 installation.
What's confounding is that it seems to "Find" double-spaces on *some* files, but not on all. Makes no sense.
OpenOffice 4.1.5 on Windows 7
Re: Unable to Find and Replace double-spaces to single-space
I had no problem with this either.
4.1.5 under Windows 10.
4.1.5 under Windows 10.
Re: Unable to Find and Replace double-spaces to single-space
I am using a vanilla 4.1.5.
I think I know why it is happening sometimes and not others. It is the difference between a space and a required or non-breaking space, especially as copied from an e-mail. I use Thunderbird and if I type "fred fred fred fred", with two spaces between each word, one (second) is a normal space and the other (first) is a required space. When I copy the phrase into AOO and search for double spaces it does not find them. See attached fred.odt.
They are also known as non-breaking spaces and can be entered by ctrl+shift+space. non-breaking spaces are used where you do not want two words ever to be placed on separate lines. For example, vice[non-breaking space]versa will never be split: either nothing will spill to the next line, or both words will spill as a unit.
I am pretty sure that in 4.1.4 and earlier, the required spaces were always painted grey. I can only get them to paint grey now by going View > Field Names.
I can also get them to be grey by Tools > Options > OO Writer > View ..., and ticking Field codes. I then do not need View > Field Names to be selected. Perhaps I have changed this setting recently.
They can be made visible by Tools > Options > OpenOffice Writer > Formatting aids > tick Display Non breaking spaces
If your problem is solved please view your first post in this thread and click the Edit button (top right in the post) and add [Solved] in front of the subject.
I think I know why it is happening sometimes and not others. It is the difference between a space and a required or non-breaking space, especially as copied from an e-mail. I use Thunderbird and if I type "fred fred fred fred", with two spaces between each word, one (second) is a normal space and the other (first) is a required space. When I copy the phrase into AOO and search for double spaces it does not find them. See attached fred.odt.
They are also known as non-breaking spaces and can be entered by ctrl+shift+space. non-breaking spaces are used where you do not want two words ever to be placed on separate lines. For example, vice[non-breaking space]versa will never be split: either nothing will spill to the next line, or both words will spill as a unit.
I can also get them to be grey by Tools > Options > OO Writer > View ..., and ticking Field codes. I then do not need View > Field Names to be selected. Perhaps I have changed this setting recently.
They can be made visible by Tools > Options > OpenOffice Writer > Formatting aids > tick Display Non breaking spaces
If your problem is solved please view your first post in this thread and click the Edit button (top right in the post) and add [Solved] in front of the subject.
- Attachments
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- fred.odt
- (8.88 KiB) Downloaded 69 times
Last edited by John_Ha on Sat Jan 13, 2018 7:12 pm, edited 2 times in total.
LO 6.4.4.2, Windows 10 Home 64 bit
See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.
Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.
Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
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- Posts: 5
- Joined: Fri Jan 12, 2018 11:18 pm
Re: Unable to Find and Replace double-spaces to single-space
John,
JUST GOT YOUR LATEST. MY PREVIOUS REPLY IS BELOW THIS RESPONSE:
Thanks for the FRED experiment. I'll take a close look later this evening.
I appreciate the help!
John
________________________________
EARLIER RESPONSE:
I'm using Windows 7 on a PC. I wonder if Ver. 4.1.5. doesn't like Windows Ver. 7.
As an alternate possible solution, can you tell me how I can successfully go BACK to my older Ver. 4.1.2? When I execute the 4.1.2 installation, it "finds" 4.1.5 and installs it instead. I have the original installation files for 4.1.2. but attempting to install *them* directly does not work. I always end up with 4.1.5.
Can I safely DELETE all existing Open Office *program files* without losing access to several years of saved Open Office .DOC files?
Thanks,
John
JUST GOT YOUR LATEST. MY PREVIOUS REPLY IS BELOW THIS RESPONSE:
Thanks for the FRED experiment. I'll take a close look later this evening.
I appreciate the help!
John
________________________________
EARLIER RESPONSE:
I'm using Windows 7 on a PC. I wonder if Ver. 4.1.5. doesn't like Windows Ver. 7.
As an alternate possible solution, can you tell me how I can successfully go BACK to my older Ver. 4.1.2? When I execute the 4.1.2 installation, it "finds" 4.1.5 and installs it instead. I have the original installation files for 4.1.2. but attempting to install *them* directly does not work. I always end up with 4.1.5.
Can I safely DELETE all existing Open Office *program files* without losing access to several years of saved Open Office .DOC files?
Thanks,
John
OpenOffice 4.1.5 on Windows 7
Re: Unable to Find and Replace double-spaces to single-space
Testing by searching for a single space shows that only the normal space is found.
I am pretty sure that something has changed here recently because I am almost certain that previously, searching by typing a space in Find found both normal and required spaces.
Edit: See post below - that statement is wrong |
Last edited by John_Ha on Sat Jan 13, 2018 7:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.
LO 6.4.4.2, Windows 10 Home 64 bit
See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.
Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.
Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
Re: Unable to Find and Replace double-spaces to single-space
I doubt it - it is much more likely to be an inadvertent error in 4.1.5.John Doyle wrote:I'm using Windows 7 on a PC. I wonder if Ver. 4.1.5. doesn't like Windows Ver. 7.
1. Uninstall 4.1.5.John Doyle wrote:As an alternate possible solution, can you tell me how I can successfully go BACK to my older Ver. 4.1.2
2. Rename C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4 to C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4_OLD 415
3. Download and install 4.1.x and install it. This creates a new, default C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4
If you want to keep (nearly) all your settings, but at the slight risk of messing things up (programs are forwards compatible but may not be backwards compatible) then:
4. Start AOO. Stop AOO
5. Copy back everything from ...\4_OLD 415 to ...\4 except do not copy registrymodifications.xcu and \config.
Uninstalling and re-installing AOO does not affect your documents.
LO 6.4.4.2, Windows 10 Home 64 bit
See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.
Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.
Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
Re: Unable to Find and Replace double-spaces to single-space
I was wrong there.John_Ha wrote:I am pretty sure that something has changed here recently because I am almost certain that previously, searching by typing a space in Find found both normal and required spaces.
I do know that when I use the macros below to search for required spaces, and to replace them by normal spaces, before doing more comprehensive searching and replacing to set my house style, the macro finds both normal and required spaces. The macro still works in 4.1.5. I am always bemused that the search command
Code: Select all
FindReplaceRegExp (" "," ","all") ' change required space to space
Code: Select all
sub Rqd_to_normal
REM save cursor position
oViewCursor = ThisComponent.getCurrentController().getViewCursor()
oTextCursor = oViewCursor.Text.createTextCursorByRange(oViewCursor)
REM disable screen update
ThisComponent.lockControllers
ThisComponent.CurrentController.Frame.ContainerWindow.Enable = False
FindReplaceRegExp (" "," ","all") ' change required space to space
REM restore cursor position
oViewCursor = ThisComponent.getCurrentController().getViewCursor()
oViewCursor.gotoRange(oTextCursor,false)
REM reenable screen update
ThisComponent.CurrentController.Frame.ContainerWindow.Enable = True
ThisComponent.unlockControllers
End Sub
Sub FindReplaceRegExp (sFind,sReplace,sScope)
REM sFind: regular expression
REM sReplace: if empty, function selects all occurrences of sFind
REM sScope: set to "all" for entire document, or "selection" to restrict the scope.
REM function searches backwards (necessary to correctly catch quotes)
dim document as object
dim dispatcher as object
document = ThisComponent.CurrentController.Frame
dispatcher = createUnoService("com.sun.star.frame.DispatchHelper")
dim args1(18) as new com.sun.star.beans.PropertyValue
args1(0).Name = "SearchItem.StyleFamily"
args1(0).Value = 2
args1(1).Name = "SearchItem.CellType"
args1(1).Value = 0
args1(2).Name = "SearchItem.RowDirection"
args1(2).Value = true
args1(3).Name = "SearchItem.AllTables"
args1(3).Value = false
args1(4).Name = "SearchItem.Backward"
args1(4).Value = true
args1(5).Name = "SearchItem.Pattern"
args1(5).Value = false
args1(6).Name = "SearchItem.Content"
args1(6).Value = false
args1(7).Name = "SearchItem.AsianOptions"
args1(7).Value = false
args1(8).Name = "SearchItem.AlgorithmType"
args1(8).Value = 1
args1(9).Name = "SearchItem.SearchFlags"
If sScope = "all" Then
args1(9).Value = 65536 ' parse entire doc
Else
args1(9).Value = 71680 ' parse selection only
End If
args1(10).Name = "SearchItem.SearchString"
args1(10).Value = sFind
args1(11).Name = "SearchItem.ReplaceString"
args1(11).Value = sReplace
args1(12).Name = "SearchItem.Locale"
args1(12).Value = 255
args1(13).Name = "SearchItem.ChangedChars"
args1(13).Value = 2
args1(14).Name = "SearchItem.DeletedChars"
args1(14).Value = 2
args1(15).Name = "SearchItem.InsertedChars"
args1(15).Value = 2
args1(16).Name = "SearchItem.TransliterateFlags"
args1(16).Value = 1280
args1(17).Name = "SearchItem.Command"
If sReplace = "" Then
args1(17).Value = 1 ' find all
Else
args1(17).Value = 3 ' replace all
End If
args1(18).Name = "Quiet"
args1(18).Value = true
dispatcher.executeDispatch(document, ".uno:ExecuteSearch", "", 0, args1())
End Sub
LO 6.4.4.2, Windows 10 Home 64 bit
See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.
Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.
Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.