Turning Off AutoComplete for Dates

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 24, 2018)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Liz asked if there was a way to turn off AutoComplete for dates, but leave the rest of AutoComplete available for use with her many AutoText entries.

Unfortunately, there is no way to do this—it is an all-or-nothing proposition with AutoComplete. If you turn it off (Insert | AutoText | AutoText | Show AutoComplete Suggestions), you won't see the "hints" for AutoText. However, just because you turn AutoComplete off doesn't mean you cannot access your AutoText. If you know the starting few characters of an AutoText entry, all you need to do is type the first few letters and then press F3. Word springs into action and expands the AutoText entry the same as if you had used AutoComplete to expand it.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (229) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Handling Leading Zeros in CSV Files

When dealing with files containing comma-separated values, you want to make sure that what gets imported into Excel ...

Discover More

Displaying Table Gridlines

For those times when you remove the borders from your tables, Word provides a way that you can display non-printing ...

Discover More

Generating a Keyword Occurrence List

Need to pull a list of words from a range of cells? This tip shows how easy you can perform the task using a macro.

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Renaming an AutoText Entry

There are a couple of ways that you can rename an existing AutoText entry. This tip describes the techniques you can use, ...

Discover More

AutoText Unavailable in Headers and Footers

When you are creating headers and footers for your document, you might want to use some of your AutoText entries. What if ...

Discover More

Macro-Inserted AutoText Doesn't Set Style

Inserting AutoText from a macro can give unwanted results, particularly when it comes to any style that may be stored ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 5 + 6?

2016-02-28 01:34:04

spam

"Unfortunately, there is no way to do this"

Any more tips?!

2014-06-07 01:11:48

Iris Wood

I have it turned on and cant turn it off even if I revert to default. How can I turn it offf please?

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.