Autocomplete dates: not working?

[Steve]

When I type a month in Word 2000, I can get the month to
autocomplete, but after I have accepted ("Enter") and
type a space, the rest of the date is not presented for
autocompletion.

I have tried turning the Autocomplete Suggestions off
then on again. Still only get the month to autocomplete.
Am I missing something? Or is something wrong with my
version of Word?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Most of us have noticed this phenomenon for several versions. The Help file
is wrong. You get help with either the month name or the entire date, not
both. If you ignore the AutoComplete tip for August and finish typing it,
then press the Spacebar, Word will offer to complete the date; otherwise
not.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://www.mvps.org/word
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Steve]

Thanks, Suzanne. Unfortunately, my problem (whatever it
is) goes deeper than that.

When I bring up a new document, based on the Normal
template, it does not function. It will do the
Autocompletion of the Month. It will not do the
Autocompletion of the Date, even if I "ignore the
AutoComplete tip...and finish typing it," as you
suggested.

I brought up another document (created by someone else)
and find that it does work, as you describe, in that
document. But I can't seem to detect what setting or
default in the other document allows the feature to work,
when mine won't.

 

[Steve]

Thanks Beth, and Suzanne.

Tried everything, and used both your suggestions. I
finally figured out something that is crucial.

This feature will NOT work if "August" (or the month) is
the FIRST word in a paragraph. The month AutoCompletion
will work, but not the date AutoCompletion! When I type
at least one word in front of it, then I can activate
date AutoCompletion as Suzanne described (and month
AutoCompletion also works).

Of course when one is testing in a blank document, you
tend to type only the word "August", which is why I
repeatedly failed to get a date AutoCompletion. Finally I
stumbled on it by typing August a second time in the
line -- and it worked!

Thanks again for all your attention.

Steve

 

[Beth Melton]

Out of curiosity, did you capitalize the first letter of August? I'll
find it will not work if you don't capitalize the first letter of the
month. If the AutoCorrect option "Capitalize first letter of
sentences" kicks in then the completing the day and year won't work.

But then occasionally it will work with a lowercase letter. What I do
know is AutoComplete for dates is flakey for Word 2000 and Word 2002.
:-(

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Steve]

To answer your curiosity -- you are quite right, Beth. I
was not capitalizing the first letter. First letter of
sentence was being AutoCorrected. If I capitalize the
first letter, then it will AutoComplete the date, even
when August is the first word of the paragraph. Just as
you say.

Thanks again,

Steve

 

[Beth Melton]

Thanks for the follow-up Steve. I was starting to think we'd need to
add another one to the list - there are enough already!

Since that is what you are encountering, something you may want to try
is to modify your Long Date format in Regional Settings (Control
Panel).

In my attempts to nail down the exact cause of why AutoComplete for
dates is flakey (some encounter problems - others don't) I also found
if I change the Long Date format from dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy to MMMM dd,
yyyy then when AutoCorrect capitalizes the first letter I am still
able to complete the date.

BUT I'm not 100% certain this is the 'cure'. If I change the Long Date
format back it will continue to work in Word 2000. (I suspect it could
just be a matter of refreshing the date format???)

If you find this works for you as well I'd be interested in hearing
about it. It would be nice to offer something other than, "it's just
flakey". <g>

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/