Using the auto correct function throughout the program in Office XP, 2003, 2007

Apparently, the auto correct function is supposed to work for all Office components.

However, that does not seem to be working for your Office packet. Word has special treatment and behind the curtains, differentiates between two diff erent types of entries. The reason: Word also saves formatting.


So, if you have used the auto correct function in Word till now, the other programs have not benefited from it. You can verify this using ‘Tools | auto correct options’. Activate the ‘Auto Correct’ tab, search the entry in question in the list and select it. Check the setting in the field ‘with’, whether it says ‘Plain Text’ or ‘Formatted Text’. All entries in the format ‘Only text’ are also available in other Officeapplications.


Office saves this data in an ACL-file for every language under the personal application data of the user. The other entries ‘Formatted Text’ are specific for Word. They are stored in the general document template ‘normal.dot’. This auto correction is not available in other applications. If you still wish to use it, you must decide, whether you can give up on the simultaneously saved formatting in Word. In that case it is enough to change the option to ‘Plain Text’.


However, take note that some auto corrections such as the smiley work only with a different font and are therefore assigned to the ‘Formatted Text’. Here, in fact you can cheat a bit, by creating a similar auto correct entry, which is then applicable for all Office programs.