Insert AutoText Tool Unavailable on Header and Footer Toolbar

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 11, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Sherman has run into a problem when creating headers or footers. He often use the "Insert AutoText" tool on the Header and Footer toolbar, but for some strange reason the "Insert AutoText" tool has become greyed out so that he can no longer select it.

Believe it or not, this behavior is normal in versions of Word that use the Header and Footer toolbar. It seems that the availability of the tool is dependent upon the availability of AutoText entries that use the style assigned to your header or footer.

One of the first things you should do is to check the style of the paragraph used for your header or footer. If they use styles other than the default Header or Footer styles, then you may want to reapply the Header or Footer styles, as appropriate. This may be all that is necessary to make the "Insert AutoText" tool again available.

If this does not work, or if you don't want to use the Header or Footer styles, then remember that you can always use Insert | AutoText | AutoText to insert any AutoText entries in a way that is not dependent on styles in the header or footer.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (3355) 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...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Creating a List

You can format both numbered and bulleted lists very easily in Word. The tools available on the Formatting toolbar make ...

Discover More

Quickly Entering Dates and Times

Excel provides keyboard shortcuts for a variety of purposes. This tip examines two such shortcuts, designed to allow ...

Discover More

Inserting a Text Box

Many people use text boxes to help organize and layout information on the page. Here's how you can add text boxes to your ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Quickly Formatting Footers in Documents with Many Sections

Need to adjust all the footers or headers in a document that uses lots of them? It's easy to do if you understand how the ...

Discover More

Deleting All Headers and Footers

Headers and footers add a finishing touch to documents, but sometimes they can be bothersome. You may need to remove them ...

Discover More

Protecting Headers and Footers

If you don't want the information in a header of footer to be changed by users of your document, there are a couple of ...

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 7 - 7?

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.