Easily Inserting a Section Mark

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated July 15, 2019)

When creating legal documents, one of the common symbols you need to use is referred to as a section mark. This looks like a fancy, squiggly S that is used in legal citations. If you need to use this symbol quite a bit, you may already know that you can insert it by holding down the Alt key and pressing 0167 on the numeric keypad. Or, you may have always used the Symbol option from the Insert menu to add the symbol to your documents.

There is an easier way to use the section mark, however, and that is to set up AutoCorrect to insert the symbol for you. Follow these steps:

  1. Choose AutoCorrect (or AutoCorrect Options) from the Tools menu. Word displays the AutoCorrect dialog box.
  2. The AutoCorrect tab should be displayed. (See Figure 1.)

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

  3. In the Replace box, enter the characters you want to type to signify a section mark. For instance, on my system I entered (s)—the lowercase letter S surrounded by parentheses.
  4. Position the insertion point in the With box, hold down the Alt key, and press 0167 on the numeric keypad. The section mark should appear in the With box.
  5. Click on Add. Your new AutoCorrect definition is added to those already maintained by Word.
  6. Click on OK.

Now, whenever you want the section mark to appear, all you need to do is type the lowercase letter S surrounded by parentheses and Word will automatically change it to the desired section mark.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13295) 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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Inserting the Edit Time

One of the things that Word keeps track of is how long, in minutes, you've been editing your current document. This ...

Discover More

Auto Creation of an Acronym List

If you use a lot of acronyms in your documents, you may want a quick way to compile those acronyms and their definitions ...

Discover More

Entering Large Time Values

If you need to input humongous times into a worksheet, you may run into a problem if you need to enter times greater than ...

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)

Emoticons in Word

Like to add a smiley or two to your writing? Word makes it easy through creative use of the AutoCorrect feature.

Discover More

Word Won't Capitalize Some Sentences

By default, Word capitalizes the first letter of sentences as you type. If you notice that Word doesn't capitalize some ...

Discover More

Two Keys with the Press of One

Sometimes it could be helpful to have Word substitute two characters for the one that you type, for instance to replace a ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

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}] 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.

What is three minus 0?

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.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2020 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.