We all have some large chunks of text that we have to write regularly, as your address, long names or phrases, or even tables and images that you use many times. The AutoText feature in Word enables you to store these text snippets and insert them quickly with just a few keystrokes, so you can spend less time typing.
The AutoText feature has been a part of Office for a long time, but now it's part of Quick Parts, which was added to Office 2007. At the same time as the AutoText entries, Quick Parts function enables you to insert document properties (as title and author ) and fields (like dates and page numbers). The Quick Parts and Autotext entries are also known as “Building Blocks” and Word comes with many pre-defined building blocks.. Plus you can add as many custom building blocks as you like.
NOTE: We have previously written about how to reference text from other documents in Word so that you can insert reusable content into other documents that will update automatically. The trick discussed in that post is equivalent to using an AutoText input. Despite this, once content is inserted using an AutoText input, that content will NOT update automatically when the AutoText entry changes.
There is other software out there, like the free PhraseExpress for Windows, that performs an equivalent task on the entire system. That's great because it works in all apps., not only in Word, but Autotext has some advantages of its own, In other words, has more formatting options (especially those specific to Word) that PhraseExpress, and it's enabled wherever Word is. Because, if you are not allowed to install third party programs on your work computer, as an example, you can still use AutoText.
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You can only store AutoText entries in templates, not in the documents themselves. By default, new AutoText entries are stored in the Normal.dotm template. This limits the availability of your AutoText entries only on your machine, unless you share your Normal.dotm template with other machines. You can add AutoText entries to custom templates, but there are limitations with this which we will discuss later in this post.
How to create a new AutoText entry
To start, create a new Word document and enter the content (text, images, boards, etc.) you want to add as an AutoText entry. After, highlight the content and click the tab “Insert”.
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If you want the text in your AutoText entry to be stored in paragraph formatting for all paragraphs in the entry, including the last paragraph, make sure the paragraph mark at the end of the last paragraph is included in your selection. Paragraph mark stores paragraph formatting. When you don't select the paragraph mark at the end of the paragraph, that paragraph takes the paragraph style of the surrounding text when you insert it. If you don't see the paragraph mark at the end of each paragraph, you can choose to show them in the alternatives. Any character formatting you have applied to your AutoText content is automatically stored in the AutoText input.
In the section “Text”, Click the button “highlight the content and click the tab” highlight the content and click the tab “Autotext” in the drop-down menu. After, select “highlight the content and click the tab” in the submenu.
NOTE: highlight the content and click the tab “highlight the content and click the tab” highlight the content and click the tab “highlight the content and click the tab”. highlight the content and click the tab “highlight the content and click the tab”, highlight the content and click the tab “Autotext”. The “Quick Parts” and “AutoText” entries are basic components. You can add the entry that way, but we will discuss how to add it as an AutoText entry.
highlight the content and click the tab “highlight the content and click the tab”. highlight the content and click the tab “Name”.
We suggest making the names of your AutoText entries different enough that you only have to type a few characters of the name to insert each entry into a document.. If multiple AutoText entries have names that are very similar, you will have to type enough of the name so that Word knows which entry you want to insert.
You can also change the category of this entry. Drop down list “Category” highlight the content and click the tab “highlight the content and click the tab” highlight the content and click the tab. You can also change the “Gallery” highlight the content and click the tab.
Drop down list “Choices” highlight the content and click the tab. If you are inserting a small piece of text, like the name of a company, select “insert content only” which inserts the content of the inline input at the cursor. You can also insert the content as your own paragraph or on your own page (perfect for creating standard covers).
Accept the default settings for the dropdown list “Keep in”. This will save the AutoText entry to your Normal template.
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Once you have set up your new AutoText entry, click on “To accept”.
When you close the last Word document you have open, The following dialog may appear asking if you want to save changes made to the Normal.dotm template, if you have enabled the option to be asked to save the Normal template. To save your AutoText entry to the template “normal.dotm”, click on “Keep”.
How to insert automatic text input into a document
Now that we have created a new AutoText entry, let's insert it into a document. Create a new Word document or open an existing one. Click on the tab “Insert” again and move the mouse over “Autotext” in the drop-down menu. You will notice that the AutoText entry you added is enabled directly in the submenu “Autotext”. Select it to insert the content into that post.
Additionally you can insert an AutoText entry simply by starting to type the name of the AutoText entry. A small pop-up window appears with the name of the matching AutoText entry and instructions instructing you to press “Enter” to insert. Press “Enter” to insert all AutoText entry into your document. Also you can press “F3”.
The content of the AutoText entry is inserted, complete with original line breaks and formatting.
To make it faster and easier to insert AutoText entries, can add button “Autotext” to the quick access toolbar.
How to activate “Show autocomplete suggestions”
If you don't see the AutoComplete suggestion when you type the name of your AutoText entry, you may need to enable the option “Show autocomplete suggestions”.
To activate “Show autocomplete suggestions”, open an existing Word document or create a new one and click the tab “File”.
On the backstage screen, click on “Choices” in the list of alternatives on the left.
Click on “Advanced” in the list of items on the left side of the dialog “Word options”.
In the section “in the list of items on the left side of the dialog”, click the check box “Show autocomplete suggestions” so there is a check mark in the box.
Now, in the list of items on the left side of the dialog “Enter” in the list of items on the left side of the dialog.
How to edit the content of an existing automatic text entry
Let's say you moved to a new house and need to change your address in your AutoText entry.. That's easy to do. Just type the entry as you like in a new Word document, select it and then access the "AutoText" submenu as previously discussed. Select option “in the list of items on the left side of the dialog” in the list of items on the left side of the dialog.
in the list of items on the left side of the dialog “Name” and click “To accept”.
A dialog box appears confirmation. Click on “Yes” in the list of items on the left side of the dialog.
Now, you can insert the updated AutoText entry into any new or existing Word document just like you did before.
NOTE: Remember, changing an AutoText entry does NOT change the content of that entry in any existing document where you already inserted it. The revised content of the AutoText entry is only used when inserting the entry at any time after changing it.
How to edit the properties of an existing automatic text entry
While editing the content of an AutoText entry, you can also change the properties of the input, as the template it is stored in, the category, etc.
To do this, create a new Word document or open an existing one. Click on the tab “Insert” and then click the button “highlight the content and click the tab” in the section “Text”. Please select “Building block organizer” in the drop-down menu.
The dialog box will appear. “in the list of items on the left side of the dialog”. in the list of items on the left side of the dialog “in the list of items on the left side of the dialog”, in the list of items on the left side of the dialog “Name” in the list of items on the left side of the dialog “in the list of items on the left side of the dialog”, “category” and “template” in the list of items on the left side of the dialog. in the list of items on the left side of the dialog “in the list of items on the left side of the dialog”. in the list of items on the left side of the dialog “Address” in the list of items on the left side of the dialog “Autotext”. Click on the entry to select it. A preview of the input is displayed on the right side of the dialog.
After choosing the ticket “Address”, click on “After choosing the ticket” After choosing the ticket “After choosing the ticket”.
The same dialog box appears as when you created the AutoText entry; despite this, now it's called “After choosing the ticket”. Let's change the "Option" to "Insert content in its own paragraph, so the address is always inserted starting on a separate line, even if the cursor is at the end of another line. Click on “To accept” After choosing the ticket.
A confirmation dialog appears again, confirming that you want to replace the AutoText entry with the revised one. Click on “Yes”.
How to delete an automatic text entry
If you find that you no longer need an AutoText entry, you can remove it from the building block collection. To delete an AutoText entry, open the "Building Block Organizer" dialog box, as described in the last section. After choosing the ticket “Remove” After choosing the ticket “After choosing the ticket”.
A confirmation dialog appears asking if you are sure you want to delete the selected building block, in this circumstance an AutoText entry. Click on “Yes” After choosing the ticket. After choosing the ticket “in the list of items on the left side of the dialog”. Click on “To close” After choosing the ticket.
AutoText seems to have a quirk when using a custom template. We tried adding AutoText entries to a custom template, but when we create a new document based on that template, the AutoText entry was not available. Despite this, when we create a new document based on the Normal template and then attach the custom template to that document, AutoText input was available. Because, if you want to save the AutoText entries in your own custom template, be sure to attach the template to your documents after creating them or, opposite case, your AutoText entries will not be available. If you discover otherwise, let us know in the comments.
Older versions of Word (2003 and earlier) allowed you to copy AutoText entries from one template to another. Despite this, from Word 2007, that functionality was removed.
