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Controlling Microsoft Word's Auto-formatting and Auto-Correction Functions
Microsoft built a lot of automatic capabilities into Microsoft Word. By default, it checks your spelling as you type and marks misspellings as it finds them. You can even set Word to auto-correct your spelling for specific typing errors you normally have.
Word also will automatically create bulleted lists. All you have to do is hit the Enter key, type 1), type the words for that entry, and hit the enter key again. Word automatically goes into Bulleted mode, creating a Numbered List automatically.
(click on the image for a larger version)
This particular feature is kind of nice, but sometimes frustrates me. Why? Well, as an example, I write my newsletters as HTML code so that I have control of formatting as I write. When I start a numbered list in Word, I type the original "1)" and the words. Then, I press Enter and almost invariably type the "2)" — and promptly have to erase them because MS Word put them in automatically.
Here, you can see the results of pressing Enter at the end of the first paragraph...
(click on the image for a larger version)
Solving this Auto-correct setting is easy. Just to the left of the first entry, Microsoft Word displays (but doesn't add to the document) a control box where I can turn off the auto-formatting.
I can also use Tools > AutoCorrect Options to open the following dialog box. Notice that it has five tabs to provide various types of fine-tuning:
- AutoCorrect, to correct spelling problems
- AutoFormat As You Type (which is the tab shown below)
- AutoText (AutoComplete)
- AutoFormat, and
- Smart Tags
I can uncheck "Automatic numbered lists" and easily prevent the frustration I had been having. Similarly, if I wanted to turn off the automatic creation of bulleted lists, I could uncheck that option, too.
(click on the image for a larger version)
Copyright © 2007-2008 Terry A. Stockdale. All rights reserved.
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