Help - many problems

[Guest]

I'm not sure where I posted this or if it was posted.

I am trying to do a very big project and nothing works:

- Autotext stopped working all together. I renamed Normal.dot and reloaded
Word 2000. Now autotext works on the first word in a line but nowhere else.
It's better than nothing but I am going to need the fulll autotext eventually.

- I type as many as two lines before anything appears on the page. When it
does, the autotext is only half completed.

- Everything seems to take a long time to load.

- I am good about using a Window Washer type product, do system scans, etc.

HELP. Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Have your AutoTexts previously worked as you expected?

How have you named your AutoTexts? Do your AutoText names consist of more
than one word?

Where are your AutoTexts stored? (Normal.dot or another template?)

You have a new Normal.dot - if the AutoTexts were stored in Normal.dot, did
you copy all AutoText from your old Normal.dot to the new Normal.dot via the
Organizer?

Have you checked whether your AutoTexts are as you expect them to be, e.g.
by inserting them via Insert > AutoText?

How it works:
When you type text, AutoComplete suggestions will _not_ appear unless a
specific AutoText is _uniquely_ identified by its name (the characters you
type). If the AutoText name consists of more than one word, other rules seem
to apply (see the note at the end of this post).

In general, AutoComplete suggestions will only appear if the check button
“Show AutoComplete suggestions†in Tools > AutoCorrect Options > AutoText tab
is turned on and if you type at least 4 characters.

You do not need to wait for an AutoComplete suggestion in order to have an
AutoText inserted. If you press F3 after having typed the first characters of
an AutoText name, Word will insert the AutoText if it can be uniquely
identified. But also here, Word must be able to uniquely identify a _single_
AutoText. For example, if you have an AutoText named
"MyVeryLongAutoTextName1" and another one named "MyVeryLongAutoTextName2",
you will have to type the entire name because only the last character
differs. In this situation, no AutoComplete suggestion would appear.

Therefore, in order to make it fast to insert AutoTexts, it is important to
create the AutoText names so that the first few characters make the names
unique. AutoText names consisting of one "word" only work best (i.e. a series
of characters without spaces - again, see the note at the end of this post).
If needed, you can rename existing AutoTexts via the "AutoText" tab of the
Organizer (in Word 2003, Organizer can be opened e.g. via Tools > Templates
and Add-Ins > Organizer - I don't remember whether Word 2000 is different).

I found a previous post from you in the following thread about the AutoText
problem - you may find information in that thread that will help you
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...&p=1&tid=9e52e785-5fa5-4215-acd7-9a12704def37

NOTE
I recently tried to find the rules that apply to the insertion of AutoTexts
with names consisting of more than one word. If your AutoTexts names consist
of more than one word, this could make the insertion more difficult. See this
thread
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...&p=1&tid=4eba0796-f67c-48c0-b1ee-79763c65e5d4

--
Regards
Lene Fredborg
DocTools - Denmark
www.thedoctools.com
Document automation - add-ins, macros and templates for Microsoft Word

 

[Guest]

Thank you for such a detailed response. I'll try to answer your questions.

1. I use autotext constantly and it's always worked fine.
2. I'm fairly certain they're stored in normal.dot.
3. No, I didn't copy anything into the new normal.dot
4. Yes, I have checked and yes, if I bring up the word and do insert, the
word appears on the page - after I've continued typing for several lines and
something finally appears on the page.
5. Show Autocomplete is checked.
6. I tried the F3 thing, which I read elsewhere, and nothing happened.
7. I understand about the unique identification - at one time before some
problem or another, I had an enormous autotext file.

And of course, we have the business of typing and nothing showing up for a
couple of lines - this is all really hampering me. I wish I knew what was
wrong and how to fix it. Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[Guest]

Another question:
What do you do to create an AutoText?

A couple of things in your reply makes me wonder: are you really talking
about AutoTexts and not about AutoCorrect (you say <I had an enormous
autotext file> but AutoTexts are not stored in a separate file but in a
template - on the other hand, AutoCorrect options are stored in a separate
file, or at least some of them are). Also, no. 2 and 3 in you reply makes me
think that you are not talking about AutoTexts - if your AutoTexts were
stored in your Normal.dot and you make Word create a new Normal.dot, the
AutoTexts _must_ be copied from the old Normal.dot to the new one -
otherwise, they are not there. I do not quite understand your no. 4.

If you open the Organizer and look at the AutoText tab, you will see two
lists and the rightmost list will most likely show the names of AutoTexts in
your Normal.dot (note what template name is displayed in the "AutoText
available in" field below the list). In Normal.dot, do you see the expected
list of AutoTexts?

--
Regards
Lene Fredborg
DocTools - Denmark
www.thedoctools.com
Document automation - add-ins, macros and templates for Microsoft Word

 

[Guest]

Thanks again for replying. You have to forgive me for using the wrong
terminology, I'm not as expert as many others. I do understand the
difference between auto correct and auto text as I use both a great deal.
Auto correct is when you constantly type ou tthere instead of out there and
you put that in auto correct so it's corrected automatically. Yes, my
autotext file/template had the same things in it when I got the new normal,
it's just that nothing works.

When I do autotext, I highlight the word and click "autotext." Autotext
comes up, and I add the word in the little box and then after I type a few
letters, I am shown the word. I hit the space bar and voila, there it is.
That was in the old days.

What I meant by #4 is just this - I type very quickly. Now it seems like
the computer can't keep up with me, if this makes any sense. I type two
lines without anything actually showing up on the screen. When the text
finally appears, the autotext is only half there. Right now the only
autotext that works are the first words in a line, which at this point are
CALLER: and OPERATOR. In the scenario I mentioned, I will use the autotext
for CALLER: and then type what the caller said - however, the screen stays
blank, almost like I'm going too fast. When the text appears, I will see
CALL and then on the next line, what I've typed. However, I don't have to
put in autotext for that to happen. Hope that makes some small sense.
Thanks again.

 

[Guest]

I don't think you are using the wrong terminology. I was only wondering
because AutoCorrect could also be used to keep and insert long passages - if
you select text before adding an AutoCorrect entry, the selected text would
appear in the AutoCorrect box, ready to be given a name.

I have been trying to imagine what you do but I am not sure I see the right
picture ;-)
I suggest you have a look at the following article in order to check whether
you could do something different:
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/customization/AutoText.htm

--
Regards
Lene Fredborg
DocTools - Denmark
www.thedoctools.com
Document automation - add-ins, macros and templates for Microsoft Word

 

[Ed from AZ]

You might try tackling the delay-in-typing issue first, rather than
the AutoCorrect / AutoText. Whatever is interferring there may also
be preventing the Auto features from responding correctly. Try
looking at these threads:
http://tinyurl.com/yw7d7e
http://tinyurl.com/2hmgb6

The big problems seem to be virus checkers and add-ins. Is this at
work? Did your Admin people do any system-wide updates lately?

Ed