Microsoft Word: AutoText and AutoCorrect

Posted on June 5, 2008 at 5:01 am

Make sure to read other posts from the Excel Tips series!

  1. How to switch between worksheets in Excel
  2. How to make a graph on excel
  3. Microsoft Word: AutoText and AutoCorrect
  4. Master Excel Tables with AutoFilter and Subtotal
  5. How to add comments to an Excel Worksheet cell
  6. MS Excel Tips and Tricks – How to count things in Excel

AutoText and AutoCorrect are features that can save you lots of time and lots of frustration – if you go to the trouble of learning how to use them.  There’s no better time than now to get started.  Let’s take a quick look at some of the more endearing features of both, with the hope that you’ll take up the reins and try some additional tricks with these features.

AutoText is a great time saver when documents require boilerplate text (disclaimers, general liability language, etc.).  Copying and pasting is inefficient, and it may find you copying and pasting names or other data that you meant to leave out.

Besides the AutoText entries that Word gives you, you can easily add your own entries.  Just highlight the text you want to add, making sure that it doesn’t contain specifics to one document.  From the Word menu, select Insert, then AutoText, then New.

You’ll get a Create form, and the rest is a breeze. Just bear in mind that this feature is not a replacement for document templates.  Templates are still the best feature to use when several documents share structure and layout.

autocorrect

Note:  If you are using MS Office 2007, then you can access the AutoCorrect options by clicking on the Windows icon in the top left area of the screen and then selecting the word options Word Options button.

For inserting AutoText, follow this AutoComplete suggestion – start typing the AutoText’s next four characters and Word will pop up its suggestion for inserting the AutoText.  Press Enter or F3 to insert. Just remember, the user can’t alter AutoText entries – one must replace old text by following the steps in creating a new entry.

The user can benefit from the advanced features that are displayed on the AutoCorrect Windows dialog box.  One of the advanced features is a tab called AutoFormatting as You Type, in which the user’s selected phrases and/ or paragraphs can be formatted.  This can be a tremendous assist in creating professional-appearing documents.

Using AutoCorrect, the user already has a built-in default spelling corrector (e.g. “Teh” to “The”).   Adjust AutoCorrect to one’s own uses by selecting AutoCorrect from Tools.  Add or delete from the list as desired.  You can use your company’s initials – say, WCP for “World Computer Products,” along with the address.  When the computer user starts keying in the name, the entire name and address, slogan or other previously added preferences will appear.

These suggestions are just a start. Once you take some time get acquainted with AutoCorrect and the other MS Office features discussed above, you’ll be surprised at how much easier your computer jobs can be.

This is a guest post by Karen Worthy, a tech enthusiast.

Technorati Tags:

» Filed Under MS Office Tips

Related Posts

Comments

6 Responses to “Microsoft Word: AutoText and AutoCorrect”

  1. Ajat said on : June 5th, 2008 at 12:01 pm

    Thanks for explaining the difference between these two.


  2. Silki said on : June 7th, 2008 at 1:12 am

    Good explanations.
    Many of such things we are aware of but not know much about them. In fact, I had been using autocorrect feature for inserting my scanned signatures on my letters.


  3. Jaye said on : July 27th, 2008 at 5:08 pm

    Is there a way to access AutoCorrect and AutoText custom entries and save to disk or folder w/o entering each when switching to a new pc? I have printed my autotext list but would really like to simplify the entry process.


  4. Ted said on : August 28th, 2008 at 9:26 am

    I am a very poor typist and get frustrated when the autocorrect doesn’t automatically change in the event of a misspelling when there is only one option to choose from. Is there a way force the change if a common word is misspelled and there is only one option?


  5. Bloud said on : September 17th, 2009 at 12:46 am

    Microsoft should improve Word 2007 with an Autotext importation tool: all my professional (translation) autotext entries in Word 2003 will be lost in my new Word 2007! The 2003 Normal.dots are not correctly nor entirely upgraded by Word 2007 which is a real disappointment for me after having bought Office 2007. I am trying to operate both versions together but it is very clumsy… Please help!


    Pingbacks
  1. 5 Killer MS Word Formatting Tips Says:

    [...] write is formatted correctly based from the preset templates. Also, check out my previous post on how to use AutoText and AutoCorrect in MS [...]

    September 2nd, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Please post your comments/suggestions!