Extra Spaces after AutoText Substitutions

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 11, 2019)

1

Dave is having a problem with substitutions done by AutoText. He has defined a series of AutoText entries that he uses for some common terms. For instance, he has set up an AutoText entry so that gov is replaced with governor and another to replace ctte with committee. Dave uses these by simply typing the shortened version (gov or ctte) and pressing F3 to do the substitution.

When Dave wants to type plural versions of his words (governors or committees), he types the shortened version (gov or ctte), presses F3, and then types the letter s. A problem crops up when doing this, because sometimes there is an extra space added after the AutoText substitution, such that he ends up with "committee s" instead of "committees."

This problem can be rooted in how the AutoText entries were first defined. It is not unusual to select a word (or words) and then press Alt+F3 to define the AutoText entry. If you are not careful, you might select a trailing space with the word or words, and then this trailing space becomes part of the AutoText definition. This can happen if you double-click a word and then (if you want to select multiple words) drag the mouse; Word automatically selects any trailing spaces when selecting in this manner.

The solution is to position the insertion point before the word or words you want to select and then hold down the Shift key as you use the arrow keys to select exactly what you want, without the trailing space. You can then assign this to your AutoText entry, and you should not run into the problem of extra spaces during the substitutions.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (309) 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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Displaying Excel's Developer Tab

The Developer tab of the ribbon is the gateway to many advanced features in Excel, including those features related to ...

Discover More

Setting Grid Line Intervals for a Radar Chart

Excel provides a wide variety of chart types you can use with your data. Unfortunately, this variety can often make it ...

Discover More

RGB Values for Automatic Colors

When you create a chart, Excel automatically assigns different colors to the various data series in the chart. At some ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Different AutoText Entries in Header and Footer

With lots of AutoText entries defined in your system, you may wonder why you can't see all of the ones you need when ...

Discover More

Storing AutoText Entries with a Document

AutoText entries can provide quite a bit of flexibility and power in a document. If you want to share those entries with ...

Discover More

Table Borders not Stored in AutoText

Many people create tables and store those tables in AutoText entries for later use. If the formatting of those tables ...

Discover More
Subscribe

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.

What is 8 + 2?

2019-01-11 11:57:12

Art

This did not work. Entry I want to insert end with a hash tag, (eg. Item #). The extra space is a nuisance.


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.

Videos
Subscribe

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

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.