Microsoft Office Development and Consultancy

What is AutoCorrect ?

This feature tries to anticipate your mistakes and tries to correct them and is switched on by default.

AutoCorrect can be used to automatically correct common spelling mistakes as well as being used to insert text, symbols and other punctuation marks.

AutoCorrect allows you to automatically correct common spelling mistakes, exchange text shortcuts for full text and quickly insert frequently used text.

It can be used to replace multiple words and also fix grammatical errors.

This feature can be an enormous time saver and it is worth spending some time to understand how it works. If used effectively it will speed up your typing and save you a lot of time.

AutoCorrect comes with a large library of thousands of items and also allows you to add your own.

Remember that AutoCorrect and AutoText are very different. AutoCorrect happens automatically and there is nothing you can do to stop it, other than removing the entry from the list. AutoText however requires you to press the Tab key.

Using AutoCorrect

AutoCorrect is set up by default with a list of words that are often misspelt and other common symbols.

Automatically detect and correct typos and misspelled words For example, if you type teh plus a space, AutoCorrect replaces what you typed with the. Or if you type This is theh ouse plus a space, AutoCorrect replaces what you typed with This is the house

Quickly insert symbols and other special characters For example, type (c) to insert ©. If the list of built-in AutoCorrect entries doesn't contain the symbols that you want, you can add entries.

Quickly insert any long piece of text For example, if you need to repeatedly enter a phrase such as return on investment, you can set up the program to automatically enter this phrase when you type roi.

Correct your capitalisation as you type.

Problems with mistypying

Problems with no spaces or too many spaces

AutoCorrect Dialog Box

In 2007 this can only be displayed by selecting (Office > Word Options)(Proofing Tab)

In 2003 select (Tools > AutoCorrect Options)(AutoCorrect tab) dialog box

two parallel lists of words. The first word is the word that you type, and the second word or phrase is what the program enters to replace that word.

The AutoCorrect list is global across the Office programs that support this feature, which means that when you add or delete a word from the list in one Microsoft Office program, the other Office programs are also affected.

Common AutoCorrect Entries

maybe add a list of common ones ??

You can even insert a table that has formulas already set up

This can be used as a shortcut for inserting technical terms ??????

One entry that is probably worth removing is the three periods.

It is a perfect place to put your signed signature, reference to your favourite web pages, hyperlinks plus other stuff.

Used to insert frequently used text and graphics.

My most useful ones are for sources on charts and tables.

Things to Remember

You can use the AutoCorrect feature as an easy way to enter special symbols.

You should put any long phrases that you commonly type in the AutoCorrect or AutoText. For a small number of phrases you can remember, use AutoCorrect. If you want to always make sure you get the right one use AutoText.

Any shorthand shortcuts you define in Word will also be available in Excel and PowerPoint.

With AutoCorrect Word automatically inserts as you type (ie, you can create abbreviations for words or phases. Use AutoText if you do not want it done automatically.