Easily Inserting a Section Mark

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 15, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

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:

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

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

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.
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.
Click on Add. Your new AutoCorrect definition is added to those already maintained by Word.
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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Printing AutoCorrect Entries

If you want to print a list of all the AutoCorrect entries in your document, Word doesn't provide a method. You can use ...

Discover More

Using Message Boxes

If your macro needs to communicate with a user, one simple way to do it is to use a message box. Here's how to use this ...

Discover More

Excel Refuses to Put Page Breaks between Subtotal Groups

Page breaks not appearing where you expect them in your subtotaled data? It could be because of a setting you made in ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2013. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word 2013 Step by Step today!

More WordTips (menu)

Shortcut for AutoCorrect Dialog Box

There is no built-in keyboard shortcut that will display the AutoCorrect dialog box. This doesn't mean that there aren't ...

Discover More

How Word Handles Abbreviations

Abbreviations appear all over the place in our society. If you want to understand how Word recognizes them (which it has ...

Discover More

Using AutoText and AutoCorrect Effectively

AutoText and AutoCorrect are closely related tools that can help you improve the productivity of your typing. This tip ...

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 5 - 3?

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.