Short answer: paste your text below. Em dashes become a comma (or vanish before a period), en dashes in number ranges become hyphens, and everything else stays as written. Prefer a visible dash? Switch the option to “spaced hyphen”.
| Mark | Looks like | Used for | Type it on a keyboard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hyphen | - | Joining words: well-known, e-mail | The minus key |
| En dash (U+2013) | – | Ranges: pages 10–12, Mon–Fri | Mac: Option + Hyphen · Windows: Alt + 0150 |
| Em dash (U+2014) | — | A break in a sentence — like this | Mac: Option + Shift + Hyphen · Windows: Alt + 0151 |
Most people never type an em dash, because no keyboard has a key for it. Word processors create them automatically when you type two hyphens, and chat assistants use them heavily. That is why a draft full of “—” can feel out of place in an email, a résumé or a social post written in your own voice.
A plain replace turns “It worked—mostly.” into “It worked-mostly.”, which reads as one hyphenated word. Em dashes do several different jobs, and each needs its own replacement:
| How the dash is used | Before | Better replacement |
|---|---|---|
| Joining two clauses | The plan is simple — ship small, ship often. | The plan is simple, ship small, ship often. (or a colon or period if you edit by hand) |
| An aside in the middle | The fix — finally — is live. | The fix, finally, is live. |
| A trailing afterthought | It worked—mostly. | It worked, mostly. |
| Before punctuation | Wait—. | Wait. |
| At the start of a line (dialogue or lists) | — Item one | - Item one |
TidySnap applies those rules automatically: spaces around the dash are absorbed, a dash before punctuation is dropped instead of becoming “,.”, and line-starting dashes become list hyphens. It is a solid first pass. For text that matters, read it once afterwards. A colon or a full stop is sometimes the better choice, and only you know which.
^+ (Word's code for an em dash), replace with , . To stop new ones appearing, turn off File › Options › Proofing › AutoCorrect Options › AutoFormat As You Type › “Hyphens (--) with dash (—)”.Both approaches replace every dash the same way, so you may end up with doubled spaces or “,.”. Cleaning first in TidySnap and pasting back avoids that.
Not necessarily. The em dash is correct, long-established punctuation, and plenty of good writers use it. The usual reasons to remove it are practical: a style guide that doesn't allow it, a platform that renders it badly, or simply wanting a draft to sound like the way you write. Pick whatever reads best. That is why “keep” is one of the options.