Formatting autocorrect

[James Silverton]

I apologize if this is a FAQ or very simple question and I am
not sure where would be the best place to ask.

Anyway, if a symbol is set up via Autocorrect in Insert Symbol,
the font is that for whatever font was being used, for example
Arial. That means that if you are using autocorrect while typing
in another font, the symbol will be inserted as, say, Arial. I
know I can get the current font, if the symbol exists in it, by
the route <hexcode>ALT-x. Is it possible to make autocorrect use
the current font?

Thanks in advance!


James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

 

[Jay Freedman]

You didn't mention which Office program you're using, but since Word is the
only one that has an AutoCorrect button in the Insert > Symbol dialog, I'll
assume it's Word...

When you click the button and the AutoCorrect Options dialog appears, the
symbol is shown in the "With" box. Immediately above it are two option
buttons, "Plain text" and "Formatted text". Click the "Plain text" option,
and the font information will be removed from the AutoCorrect entry.

This change also affects where the AutoCorrect entry is stored. Formatted
entries are stored in the Normal.dot template, which means that they're
available only in Word (and in Outlook if it uses Word as its editor, for
versions before 2007). Plain text entries are stored in .ACL files (the
specific name depends on what language is selected) and are available in all
Office programs that use AutoCorrect.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[James Silverton]

Jay wrote on Mon, 10 Dec 2007 11:33:18 -0500:

JF> When you click the button and the AutoCorrect Options
JF> dialog appears, the symbol is shown in the "With" box.
JF> Immediately above it are two option buttons, "Plain text"
JF> and "Formatted text". Click the "Plain text" option, and
JF> the font information will be removed from the AutoCorrect
JF> entry.

JF> This change also affects where the AutoCorrect entry is
JF> stored. Formatted entries are stored in the Normal.dot
JF> template, which means that they're available only in Word
JF> (and in Outlook if it uses Word as its editor, for versions
JF> before 2007). Plain text entries are stored in .ACL files
JF> (the specific name depends on what language is selected)
JF> and are available in all Office programs that use
JF> AutoCorrect.
would be the best place to ask.
??>>
??>> Anyway, if a symbol is set up via Autocorrect in Insert
??>> Symbol, the font is that for whatever font was being used,
??>> for example Arial. That means that if you are using
??>> autocorrect while typing in another font, the symbol will
??>> be inserted as, say, Arial. I know I can get the current
??>> font, if the symbol exists in it, by the route
??>> <hexcode>ALT-x. Is it possible to make autocorrect use the
??>> current font?
??>>


Thanks very much for the rapid response Jay! So that's what
"Plain Text" does in this context; you can teach an old dog new
tricks! It was Word of course as you suggested and I always set
up auto correct entries via that program.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

 

[Arend]

I want to upgrade to office 2007 but there are some issues which I need to
solve before I upgrade.
However, for a year now I am trying to find a solution but nobody can help
me. Maybe you could?!

1. I can’t find a way to transfer my FORMATTED autocorrect entries from 2003
to 2007
2. I can’t find away to transfer my autocorrect FORMATTED entries AND my
autotext entries to outlook 2007, as in 2007 word is not anymore the email
editor.

Can you help?

Regards
Arend

 

[Jay Freedman]

If you're doing an in-place upgrade from Word 2003 to Word 2007, the
formatted AutoCorrect entries (which are stored in the Normal.dot template)
will be brought forward automatically, although you may have to open
Normal.dot and use the Office button > Convert function to change it to the
new format.

To transfer the formatted autocorrect entries (actually, all autocorrect
entries) from Word 2003 on one machine to Word 2007 on a different machine:

- Download the AutoCorrect.zip file from
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/ExportAutocorrect.htm. Extract
the AutoCorrect.dot file from it, open it in Word 2003, and run the macro to
save the AutoCorrect entries into a table in a document. Save that document
and copy it to the Word 2007 machine..

- Download the AutoCorrect2007.zip file from http://jay-freedman.info.
Extract the AutoCorrect.dotm file from it, open it in Word 2007, and run the
macro to read the entries from the document and store them in Normal.dotm.

I don't know what you need to do for Outlook 2007, because I don't use it.
Ask in an Outlook newsgroup?

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Arend]

Thanks! It did work out, however, I now face another problem. Every time I
insert a formatted auto-correct entry I need to accept the change otherwise
the insertion is visible in the document.

To avoid this for a future insertion I need to save again the entry and
replace the existed one. This, however, can’t be the case considering the
4567 entries that I have already.

Any help?

Thanks and regards

 

[Jay Freedman]

I don't understand your description. Exactly what are you doing at the time
you're required to "accept the change"? Are you inserting an AutoCorrect
entry into a document, or are you storing an AutoCorrect entry? What is the
change you're accepting, and how are you doing that?

 

[Arend]

I insert an autocorrect entry and I get the whole text underlined. To get it
right I need to select it all and go to the review ribbon and choose accept
all changes. (or right click on the selected text and click accept changes.)

Thanks

 

[Jay Freedman]

OK, that's what I thought. You have Track Changes enabled, and _any_ change
you make will be formatted that way, regardless of whether it's created by
an AutoCorrect entry or just plain typing. Turn off Track Changes, and it
won't happen any more.

See http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/trackchanges/HowTrackChangesWorks.html
for an explanation. The only addition is that in Word 2007 you use the Track
Changes button on the Review ribbon instead of a Track Changes command on a
Tools menu (which of course doesn't exist in 2007).

 

[Arend]

Thanks, you have been very helpful.
Now I am almost ready to upgrade to 2007. However I need still to find a way
to transfer my formatted autocorrect and all autotext entries from word 2007
to outlook. But even if I do this still it looks like that when I create an
autocorrect entry in outlook, word is not being updated with this entry. To
use word as an editor in outlook is now no more possible!

I believe that Microsoft has done a huge mistake with office 2007. When you
upgrade a software you never change or, yet worse, remove previous functions!
In office 2007 everything has been change and many commands & functions have
been removed. By taking into account that 2003 office was around for 4 years
and people are very familiar with, many users won’t upgrade as they need to
learn everything all over again or to use magic to do simple things, like I
do now with autocorrect and autotext.

Anyway I see myself waiting for office 2010! Maybe the developers in
Microsoft do figure out that previous functions cannot be removed from future
releases.

Thanks again and regards from Greece!
Christos