AutoCorrecting for Your Common Errors

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

Chances are good that you already know what AutoCorrect is and that it can be a boon for those words you habitually mistype. (Exactly why I invariably mistype some words, I'll never understand.) However, setting up AutoCorrect to compensate for your mistyping can be a bother. Here's a quick way to make short work of adding your mistypings to AutoCorrect:

Assuming that Word flags the mistyped word as misspelled, right-click on it. A Context menu appears.
If spelling corrections are offered in the Context menu, there should also be a menu choice called AutoCorrect. Choose it and you will see the same spelling corrections in the resultant submenu.
Choose the correct spelling in this submenu.

What you have just done is tell Word that you want to create an AutoCorrect entry that will automatically correct the mistyped word using the selected spelling. Fast, neat, and easy!

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1482) 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...

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What is eight minus 5?

2025-09-03 13:34:54

Barbie

This option disappeared in Word 2016, but is now available again in Word 2021. Yay! So much easier than having to manually open AutoCorrect every time I need to add an entry. (Also, I have now finally learned how to access the old spelling dialog box, which has always had the Add to Autocorrect feature, with the advantage that it works even if the correction isn't one of its suggestions)
Too bad the time it was unavailable to me was when I had a computer that would periodically wipe out my Autocorrect entries!

2014-05-17 06:52:27

Wim van Brakel

The above tip sounds very useful, only in my version of Word 2013, no Context Menu entry 'AutoCorrect' appears. Can I do anything to make it appear?

Thanks in advance!
Wim

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