Autotext not working

[Guest]

Is there something you have to do to enable autotext. I am familiar with how
it works and the show autotext suggestions box is checked by default,
however, when I add text to it and add it to my template, then try and use it
no tip comes up. I even tried several of the autotext options already in
word and only a few work. Like my name etc. Somehow my autotext is
disabled. What to do. I am ready to pull my hair out. This part of word is
essential for my work. I am using Word 2003 and have been using autotext in
both word 2000 at work and word 97 on another computer and they work fine.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In order to get an AutoComplete suggestion, the name of your AutoText entry
must be at least four characters long and unique. But you can insert any
AutoText entry by typing its name and pressing F3.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

I understand the four characters and have done some more investigations. In
earlier versions of word I could type a standard paragraph of text that I
would use consistantly, highlight this text, open auto text and rename it to
say |kss, click on add and presto. If i typed |kss in my document the
autocomplete would come up, hit return and in came the paragraph. In word
2003 using the same sequence of events and same name (|kss) it will not work.
Now I tried a different character, like <kss, and it still would not work.
Tried ksss and presto it worked again. Now I am using the character "|" at
the begining of my three letters to help differetiate my autotext from
anything else that I might type in the document and in earlier versions this
worked. Why is it that using this vertical line, "|", at the begining of my
3 other letters does it deactivate the ability of autotext to work? Is this
something new in word 2003? Is there some way I can get it to accept any
character I want?

Also, there are some standard autotext entries (the ones that came with
word) that don't seem to work either, like Dear Mother and Father or Filename
and path, etc. and others that do. Why is this?

KM1

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Okay, I just tried this, and this is what I found. Word had no problem
accepting |kss as an AutoText entry name, and in fact if I typed |kss and
pressed F3, it would insert the entry. But, as you have found, it wouldn't
present an AutoComplete tip. If I named the entry |ksss, however, all worked
as expected. So I guess you're going to have to have four *letters* any way
you look at it. You can still begin the AutoText entry names with the pipe
character, but you'll need to use four additional characters if you want
AutoComplete to work.

Incidentally, you say "highlight this text, open auto text and rename it to
say |kss, click on add and presto." Note that there is a much quicker way to
accomplish this: select the text you want for the AutoText entry and press
Alt+F3. Word will suggest the first word or two as the entry name, but you
can type anything you like instead, then press Enter or click OK, and it's
added. The entry will be stored in the template that is currently selected
in the Insert | AutoText dialog. If you have "All active templates"
selected, it will be saved in Normal.dot, but if you are working with a
specific document template and want to create AutoText entries just for
that, change the "Look in" setting to your desired template. Alt+F3 will
then save all new entries to that template. Don't forget to change back to
"All active templates" when you're done!

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Graham Mayor]

As an aside, if you would like to use this type of autotext in other
applications as well as Word, I recently came across a very handy utility
called GhostTyper XML - http://www.sc-data.de/ - which does just that. I
find it invaluable for storing web addresses for inclusion in newsgroup
posts. It does not include autocomplete tips, but a right click on its
system tray icon will give you a listing should you forget the prompt as
well as the content

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

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