This will be quick but for some of you, it may also make your jaw drop.
Use only one (1) space after punctuation!!!
I know that may come as a shock. Many of us were taught to put 2 spaces after sentences when typing and it may be a habit that is hard to break. However, if you Google “spacing after punctuation”, you will get website after website that confirms what I’m telling you. The reason is this: computer fonts are able to give proportionate space to characters rather than fixed space the way typewriters did. With a typewriter, each character received the same amount of space on a page; thus the 2 spaces after each sentence were necessary for easy reading. However, with computers, each character gets just the amount of space it needs, making the 2 spaces between sentences look like a gap.
Thanks to Melissa from nichols editorial for bringing this to my attention several years ago!
Not your usual productivity tip this time, I know. I doubt going from 2 spaces to 1 will make all that much difference in your productivity. But it is something I thought worthy of attention and I promise, your documents will look better.