AutoText Behaving Erratically

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 27, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


John has been working on a set of construction contract specifications (50-75 documents printed as one package). The footer for each document needs to include the exact same project description and project title. So, John made an AutoText entry for the description and the title. However, he discovered that the AutoText action was different in different documents when he tried to use it in the footers.

Sometimes John would get the normal AutoText behavior (type the first four characters of the AutoText name, and he would get a pop-up offering to insert the AutoText entry if he hit Enter). Sometimes he could not get the pop-up, but if he pressed F3, Word would insert the AutoText entry. Other times, when he pressed F3, Word said that what he typed was not a valid AutoText name.

There are a couple of things you can check. First, you should check where you placed the AutoText entry. AutoText entries are most often stored in the Normal.dot template, but they can be stored in virtually any template. If you actually stored the entry in a template other than Normal.dot, and some of your specification documents don't use that other template, then the AutoText entry won't be there.

If you did store the AutoText entry in another template, you should check to see if there is a conflicting entry in the Normal.dot template. If there is a conflict--perhaps two entries that are very close in their spelling--then AutoText may be getting confused as to which entry it should display.

You can see what AutoText entries are in which templates by using the AutoText tab of the AutoCorrect dialog box. (Choose Insert | AutoText | AutoText.) You can also use the Organizer to manage the AutoText entries in a variety of templates.

If you still encounter problems with the AutoText entry, you may choose to give up on it entirely and use a different way to achieve consistency in your footers. You can do this by putting the text you want in the footer into a text file, and then using fields to include it in your footer. Follow these general steps:

  1. Outside of Word, create a text file (using Notepad or another text editor) that contains the text you want included in the footer.
  2. Inside Word, display your footer and position the insertion point where you want the text to appear.
  3. Choose Field from the Insert menu. Word displays the Field dialog box.
  4. Make sure the Categories control is set to All so that all of the fields are listed in the dialog box.
  5. In the list of fields, choose IncludeText. The options at the right side of the dialog box change based on your selection.
  6. In the Filename or URL field, enter the full path and file name for the text file you created in step 1.
  7. Click OK.

That's it. You've now included the text in the footer. You can change the text in all your documents by just changing it in the text file. If Word is configured to update whenever you print, the field in the footer is updated (the text file is loaded anew) every time you print.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (367) 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

Determining a Worksheet's Number

When you add a new worksheet to a workbook, it receives a meaningful name such as "Sheet4" or "Sheet17." If you want to ...

Discover More

Quick and Dirty Paragraph Count

Need to know how many paragraphs are in a document? You can use Word's Find and Replace feature to get a count quickly.

Discover More

Unexpected Error Exporting a PDF

It is common for people to create PDF files from their Word documents. What can you do, though, if your standard way of ...

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 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

AutoText Entries Don't Stick

AutoText can be a great tool, but it is of little worth if you can't get Word to remember the AutoText entries you ...

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

Creating an AutoText Reference List

Need a fast, easy way to come up with a list of all the AutoText entries that you've defined? This tip presents two ways ...

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 2 + 8?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


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.