Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Creating a Building Block.

Adding an AutoText Entry

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 12, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

To get the most out of AutoText you will want to customize it to help with words and phrases that you use most. You can add AutoText entries in this manner:

Select the text and/or graphics that you want to add to AutoText. You will need to select the paragraph marker as well if you want to store paragraph formatting with the text.
Select the AutoText option from the Insert menu, and then choose the AutoText option from the resulting submenu. Word displays the AutoText tab of the AutoCorrect dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The AutoText tab of the AutoCorrect dialog box.

Replace the suggested name with the desired name for your new entry.
Click on the Add button.

After working with AutoText for a while, you many need to change some of your entries. Fortunately, Word makes it real easy to change your AutoText entries. Follow the steps outlined for adding entries, and when you click on Add, you will be asked if you want to redefine the AutoText entry. Click on Yes and you will be able to use the new entry.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1104) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Creating a Building Block.

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

Hiding Errors

If you find the green and red squiggly underlines that Word adds to your document distracting, you might want a quick way ...

Discover More

Replacing with a Subscript

The Find and Replace capabilities of Word are quite powerful. One type of replacing may not seem possible at ...

Discover More

Changing the Default Paste Mode

Don't like the way that Excel pastes when you press CTRL+V? Here are some ways that you can modify the normal paste mode ...

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)

Editing an AutoText Entry

Once you've created an AutoText entry, you may believe that it is "set in stone" and cannot be changed. Not so! You can ...

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

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 2 + 2?

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.