Importing AutoCorrect Entries

Word's AutoCorrect feature can be helpful when you are writing, as it can replace your "mistypes" with what you really intended in the first place. AutoCorrect comes already configured with many of the common typing mistakes, but to make the tool truly helpful you need to add your own AutoCorrect entries that reflect your personal typing habits.

The normal way to add AutoCorrect entries is to enter them in, one at a time, using AutoCorrect tab of the AutoCorrect dialog box (Tools | AutoCorrect). What if you want to import quite a few AutoCorrect entries, rather than typing them in? Useful information regarding exporting and importing AutoCorrect entries is located here, at the Word MVP site:

http://wordmvp.com/FAQs/Customization/ExportAutocorrect.htm

As you can tell from the site, the bottom line is that there is no intrinsic function within Word that allows you to import AutoCorrect entries. Thus, you are left to using a macro to do the work. The following is one such macro, which will import entries and place them directly in the AutoCorrect list.

Sub AddToTheAutoCorrectList()
    Dim r As Range, r1 As Range
    Dim par As Paragraph, bo As Boolean
    Dim pars As Paragraphs
    Dim ACE As AutoCorrectEntry
    Dim ACEs As AutoCorrectEntries
    Dim ActD As Document

    Set ActD = ActiveDocument
    Set pars = ActD.Paragraphs
    Set r1 = Selection.Range
    Set r = Selection.Range
    Set ACEs = Application.AutoCorrect.Entries

    On Error Resume Next
    For Each par In pars
        If par.Range.End = ActD.Content.End Then Exit Sub
        r1.Start = par.Range.Start
        r1.End = r1.Start
        r1.MoveEndUntil vbTab
        r.Start = r1.End + 1
        r.End = par.Range.End - 1
        If Len(r1.Text) > 0 Or Len(r.Text) > 0 Then
            If Len(ACEs(r1.Text).Value) > 0 Then
                bo = Repl(ACEs, r, r1)
            Else
                bo = True
            End If
            If bo Then ACEs.Add r1.Text, r.Text
        End If
    Next
End Sub

Private Function Repl(a As AutoCorrectEntries, _
  r As Range, r1 As Range) As Boolean
    If a(r1.Text).Value <> r.Text Then
        Repl = MsgBox("To replace " & UCase(a(r1.Text).Value) & _
          " with " & UCase(r.Text) & " click OK", vbYesNo + _
          vbQuestion, "REPLACE ENTRY?") = vbYes
    End If
End Function

To use the macro, just make sure that you place one entry per paragraph in a document. (There should be nothing else in the document.) The "Replace" portion of the entry should be separated from the "With" portion by a tab character. If the macro encounters a proposed AutoCorrect entry that will overwrite an existing entry, you are asked if you want to make the change.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1732) 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: Importing AutoCorrect Entries.