Multiline AutoCorrect

In an earlier blog entry I showed how the cool Microsoft Word AutoCorrect feature can be used to both increase your typing speed and your spelling accuracy. This time we'll use AutoCorrect to write not a single word or a single line, but multiple lines.

So let's say that you often want to write the following 3 lines:
For more information about AutoCorrect in Word,
please see the nifty tricks at:
http://niftypctricks.blogspot.com

The way to add these lines to an AutoCorrect entry, is simply to write the lines in your Microsoft Word document, then highlight all of them, and press AutoCorrect (ALT+T,A in Word 2003). Simply enter the AutoCorrect key (e.g. multi3), and your multi-line AutoCorrect entry is ready to go. So next time you type multi3, your 3 lines will show up with all the formatting (bold, underline, hyperlinks, etc) of the original lines.

I do want to point out that in case you multi-line text is more part of your email signature than just a multi-line text, then you really should use an email signature instead (assuming that you are using Word as your email editor). So if you sometimes want to write:
Regards,
Michael E.
Master of AutoCorrect and Signatures

Then you should create another email signature in MS Word with the desired text in it. You can then right-click on your email signature at anytime and switch it to the desired signature.

Nifty.

Copy your AutoCorrect list

As you may have read in the latest blog, AutoCorrect is a very useful feature in most Microsoft Office applications.

Once you have created your own personal list of favorite words to expand you probably want to bring a copy of that AutoCorrect list with you to all the other computers that you use. This can easily be accomplished a few different ways. There are several comprehensive tools out there, including some Microsoft tools, but I mostly only need to copy the AutoCorrect list file, so I do it the old fashioned way. I copy the physical file.

The AutoCorrect list file has an extension of ACL (AutoCorrect List). The file is named MSOxxxx.acl where xxxx designates the language that the file is for. There is an ACL file for each language you have used. For example, MSO1033.acl is the ACL file for language of English (US). Lastly, the file is typically located in your application data folders, so you'll likely find it in "C:\Documents and Settings\NN.NN\Application Data\Microsoft\Office", where Windows NN.NN is your user name.

So simply copy the file (e.g. "C:\Documents and Settings\NN.NN\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\MSO1033.acl") to the same location on your other PC and you now have the same AutoCorrect list on both.

As you will now start growing your very own AutoCorrect list, you can even share it between home, work, client assignments, etc. I personally have a USB stick (aka Pen Drive) that I always carry with me, and in my tools folder on the USB drive, I always have the latest version of my ACL file.

Nifty.

Use AutoCorrect to type really fast

Like most people, I also use Microsoft Word to write documentation, email, etc. and one of the features I use the most is AutoCorrect. Warning: Once you start using it, it can be hard to live without it.

AutoCorrect is simply a list of characters that will get replaced with other characters. It is the automatic "replace as you type" function, and it is commonly used to fix typical misspellings and create emoticons such as a smiley. For example, if you type in "your here" in Microsoft Word, it will automatically get expanded to a "you're here". To see the complete list, go to Tools->AutoCorrect Options in Microsoft Word. Note that AutoCorrect is language sensitive, so you have a different list for each language you compose messages in. This of course makes sense since you do not want to autocorrect abotu to about for Danish, but only for English.

But instead of using it to correct misspelled words, I use it to write longer words that I use over and over again. Below is a small sample of my own personal list.

Commonly used words and sentences:
sw=software
dev=develop
devn=development
anyq=Any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

You can also use AutoCorrect to write the correct capitalization of a given word or sentence. If you enter a word in lowercase in autocorrect, then Microsoft Word will automatically expand to the correct case. E.g. if you have a lowercase entry of sw for software, then sw will expand to software, and SW (in uppercase) will expand SOFTWARE, and Software if in the beginning of a sentence. Works pretty well. But if you always want to have SOFTWARE in uppercase since it may be a trademark name, etc, then all you have to enter is sw for SOFTWARE.

There are some words that you may want to autocorrect some of the times, but not all the times. The easiest way to handle this is to press undo (ALT-BACKSPACE or CTRL-Z) immediately after the expanding. So if you need to enter the address "123 SW MAIN ST", you want to press undo right after SW otherwise you'll send the letter to "123 SOFTWARE MAIN ST".

Lastly, note that you could also have an entry of uppercase SW. However, this means that SW is only expanded if you enter the uppercase SW. If you entered sw it would not get expanded.

I suggest you play around with it yourself. It is kind of like reading a book on riding a bicycle. It may get you an idea, but you'll not get the feel for it, until you jump on the bike yourself.

By the way, this entry was writing using 8 different AutoCorrect entries.

Nifty.