AutoCorrect no longer converts arrows & smileys

[mbroom1]

Since I re-installed Office 2003 (which I did because Windows Installer was
damaged), AutoCorrect still corrects the spelling errors in its database,
turms (C) into a copyright symbol, and does most of what it should; but it no
longer turms text arrows suck as ==> and --> into heavy arrows or things like
into smileys. In fact, those arrows and smileys were no longer in the
AutoCorrect list, and pasting them into a document and adding the
corresponding AC entry doesn't get it working. Is there a way to get these
things back into AC? (Help didn't help, and a query on Office Online also
turned up nothing.)

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Do you have the Wingdings font installed?

 

[mbroom1]

Apologies for not replying sooner, but the reply links in the automated email
message that sent your reply question to me were dead and my route to
navigagte back to the Community page that (eventually) leads to this reply
window was long and difficult.

Yes, Wingdings is installed, as in Wingdings 2. I note, though, FWIW that if
I select one of the heavy arrows in an old document, the font dialog says
it's in Times New Roman, just like the surrounding text.

I'd add my email address here and suggest you copy any further message
directly, but maybe there's a rule against that....?

Thanks for so far.

Michael

 

[Beth Melton]

Did you perhaps create your own Normal.dot at some point? If so then that's
the cause since rich text AutoCorrect entries are stored in your Normal
template which only Word can properly create.

Try renaming Normal.dot to Normal.dotOld and see if the AutoCorrect entries
return.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Melton
What is a Microsoft MVP? http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/gp/mvpfaqs

Guides for the Office 2007 Interface:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102295841033.aspx

 

[mbroom1]

You're right. I did create a new Normal.dot, and I did that because some
months ago, after I'd successfully altered Normal.dot many times, it would no
longer accept my changes. As I recall, I went through a series of steps,
saving a revised template under a new name, then deleting the existing
Normal.dot, then renaming my new template Normal.dot. More recently, I'd been
unable to install updates from Microsoft Update, and to fix that I followed
the steps in a KB article to re-install Office. That left my custom-built
Normal.dot intact, which I assume is by design.

I'd guess the safe thing is to rename my current Normal.dot, let Word create
a new one, then see if I can successfully revise that Normal.dot to pick up
my custom changes. But if there's no more efficient way to combine the
default Normal.dot and my changes, maybe I'll just stick with what I have and
keep copies of the arrows in my extended clipboard utility.

Either way, thanks.

 

[Beth Melton]

Microsoft updates don't touch your Normal template.

As for migrating your changes to your newly created Normal template, it
depends on what those changes are. If they are Styles, AutoText, or Macros
then these can be copied to your new Normal template using the Organizer
found by clicking Tools/Templates and Add-ins. If there were other changes,
such as to your page margins, font, or paragraph formatting, you can make
these changes by either opening your new Normal template and making the
modifications or by using the various dialog boxes and clicking the Default
button.

btw, if you also use the built-in AutoText entries you'll find those are
gone too since they are also stored in the Normal template Word creates.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Melton
What is a Microsoft MVP? http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/gp/mvpfaqs

Guides for the Office 2007 Interface:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102295841033.aspx

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Ordinary mortals really can't create Normal.dot; see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/CustomizeNormalTemplate.htm