Inserting a Section Mark

When creating legal documents, one of the common symbols you need to use is referred to as a section mark. This looks like a fancy, squiggly S that is used in legal citations. If you need to use this symbol quite a bit, you may already know that you can insert it by holding down the Alt key and pressing 0167 on the numeric keypad. Or, you may have always used the Symbol option from the Insert menu to add the symbol to your documents.

There is an easier way to use the section mark, however, and that is to set up AutoCorrect to insert the symbol for you. Follow these steps if you are using Word 2007:

1. Click the Office button and then click Word Options. Word displays the Word Options dialog box.
2. At the left side of the dialog box click Proofing.
3. Click the AutoCorrect Options button. Word displays the AutoCorrect tab of the AutoCorrect dialog box. (Click here to see a related figure.)
4. In the Replace box, enter the characters you want to type to signify a section mark. For instance, on my system I entered (s)—the lowercase letter S surrounded by parentheses.
5. Position the insertion point in the With box, hold down the Alt key, and press 0167 on the numeric keypad. The section mark should appear in the With box.
6. Click on Add. Your new AutoCorrect definition is added to those already maintained by Word.
7. Click on OK.

If you are using an older version of Word, follow these steps:

1. Choose AutoCorrect (or AutoCorrect Options) from the Tools menu. Word displays the AutoCorrect dialog box.
2. The AutoCorrect tab should be displayed.
3. In the Replace box, enter the characters you want to type to signify a section mark. For instance, on my system I entered (s)—the lowercase letter S surrounded by parentheses.
4. Position the insertion point in the With box, hold down the Alt key, and press 0167 on the numeric keypad. The section mark should appear in the With box.
5. Click on Add. Your new AutoCorrect definition is added to those already maintained by Word.
6. Click on OK.

Now, whenever you want the section mark to appear, all you need to do is type the lowercase letter S surrounded by parentheses and Word will automatically change it to the desired section mark.