Replacing All AutoCorrect Entries

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 28, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


3

Harold has a need for multiple AutoCorrect lists for different writing purposes. He would like a way to "swap out" one complete set of AutoCorrect entries for another, and wonders if it is possible to do this.

Word stores AutoCorrect entries in two places. Formatted entries are stored in the Normal template. Unformatted entries are stored in a file that ends with the extension .ACL. You can use the search capability of Windows to find all the files that end with this extension; the first part of the file name consists of the letters MSO followed by a language code. For English language installations of Word the full file name is MSO1033.acl.

The easiest way to swap out AutoCorrect entries is to simply keep multiple copies of these two files. Copy the desired files into the locations expected by Word, prior to starting the program, and then you can use the different sets of AutoCorrect entries that you need.

A simpler way to manage your AutoCorrect entries (at least if you are using Word 2007) is to simply rely on the AutoCorrect Utility, provided as part of a special template called Support.dot. This template is installed automatically if you do a complete Word install of all options. If it is not available on your system, you can find installation instructions in this Knowledge Base article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/826147

To create your AutoCorrect list, load the template, click the AutoCorrect Backup button, and then click Backup. You can then specify where the list should be saved and the name under which it should be saved. The backup contains all the AutoCorrect entries in a regular Word table, with the trigger word in the left column, the replacement word in the middle column, and an indicator of whether the entry is formatted or not in the right column. You can make changes to the entries in the table, as desired. When you want to use them, simply load the Support.dot template and again click the AutoCorrect Backup button and click Restore.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (10019) 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. ...

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What is 7 - 7?

2020-04-28 16:09:55

Allen

I do not, Ron. Sorry!

I'll have to update this tip.

-Allen


2020-04-28 15:43:23

Ron S MVP

Allen, MS has (dis)"improved" the KB article out of existence. Do you have a downloaded copy of it?


2017-09-19 15:14:05

Nicholas

It worked as a charme for my English autoCorrect suggestions, then I tried to do the same for the German ones as well and failed.
I thought first I could write a document in German and have it automatically recognized (the AutoCorrect options changed accordingly) but I backed up the same file. Now I could keep them in one single file I guess, but I'd prefer not to.

Do you know which part of the code of the macro refers to the "language library" I mean the location where the English AutoCorrect list stored, so maybe I can change it - or at least try?

regards,
Nicholas


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