Auto Text

Which version of Word do you have? If it is Word 2003, then Autotext hasn't
been changed by any of the updates. If yours isn't working then the issue is
elsewhere. For autotext in that version to prompt you the first four letters
must be unique - otherwise you have to keep typing until it becomes unique.
If you are having problems with that (or an earlier) version - see
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm then
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm

With Word 2007, which is not available as an 'upgrade' as such, Autocomplete
has never been included, so if you have this version, you have made a
conscious decision to change from the earlier version.

The public forums are not serviced by Microsoft personnel, but by a user
peergroup - people like yourself. In fact the forums are merely a window
into the wider world of Usenet where most of those of us who respond here
lurk, so it is unlikely that *we* recommended that you update anything. I
cannot speak for the particular portal you used to access the forum.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>


mgpts95 wrote:
> The problem is that I have all my medical terms, prescriptions, etc.
> saved in AutoText for my business. Of course it USED to pull up the
> first 3-4 letters of a given word and let you hit enter to
> automatically insert it into the document. Now, you cannot even do
> that. It will not allow you the option of looking at the word or
> words of the first 3-4 letters UNLESS you physically open up the
> AutoText program, find the word and then hit INSERT OR F3. This is
> very time consuming - what document took me 2 minutes to type is
> taking up to 3-4 minutes now since I am having to physically open up
> AutoText to get the word/words. Before it would show the word while
> you were in the document itself and if that is the word/phrase you
> wanted to use, you would just hit enter. Sometimes these "downloads"
> yu guys tell us to do to what I thought would benefit us oftentimes
> does more damage than good. I searched your website to find out more
> info on the AutoText and the only thing I could see to correct the
> problem was ANOTHER PATCH that might correct it later on down the
> road. I don't need it later on down the road - I need it now in
> order to work and run a business for all my transcriptionists. I
> will not do this again and will be notifying the company directly.
> The downloads should come with a WARNING to let you know that the
> following changes will be made to your machine and state EXACTLY WHAT
> THOSE CHANGES WILL AFFECT and then if you desire to download the
> update with those warnings posted, then the problem is on you - but
> you should give the customer the opetion to review what changes any
> download will be made to affect your machine prior to this function
> being done rather than just sending AN UPDATE ALERT NOTICE notifying
> you there are updates that need to be made. I have surely learned my
> lesson on this one. This problem has cost me two down days worth of
> work when you figure in the time it has taken to actually geta
> complete document produced. Sincerely, ProScript Transcription
> Service
>
>
> "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:
>
>> What is the problem you are experiencing? I am using Word 2003 fully
>> patched and am not experiencing any problems. If you are using Word
>> 2007, you can still use AutoText, but you need to press F3 instead
>> of Enter to insert it. AutoText is never inserted entirely
>> automatically; that is the function of AutoCorrect entries.
>>
>> --
>> Suzanne S. Barnhill
>> Microsoft MVP (Word)
>> Words into Type
>> Fairhope, Alabama USA
>>
>> "mgpts95" <mgpts95 DeleteThis @discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:467968E5-A7D2-4B11-901B-3ACFD6BEED96@microsoft.com...
>>> this is awful! I run a business and depend on the autotext. I
>>> will never download any recommended downloads again from this
>>> website!!! it has secrewed
>>> up my business!
>>>
>>> "Ibrahim Awwad" wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dear All,
>>>>
>>>> I used to have Auto Text in Word 2003 perfectly now it's not
>>>> working at all?
>>>> As example I used to have the system complete (Best Regards,)
>>>> before I entirly finished the key in process. I also used to
>>>> insert my signature using
>>>> this way now I can't???
>>>> --
>>>> *********
>>>> IT Manager
>>>> DeLaval Ltd.
>>>> Cairo-Egypt
>>>> *********
>>>>> -----------------------------|
>>>>> Islam is peace not Terror|
>>>>> -----------------------------|

I just discovered, after finally upgrading to Office 2007, the same disaster you all discovered about auto-text functionality having been partially removed.

Is there any news of an update that will or has given us back the old auto-text functionality?

This removal of functionality affects our $2000K+ a year business so much that I'm totally desperate now. We have investments in 1000s of auto-text templates that are now rendered useless, as is our business model, which is dependent on its functionality.

A few of the missing auto-text functionalities that Office 2007 really does not offer:

1. One used to be able to insert a new auto-text entry and the table would adopt the entry's initial characters by default as its name. Now one has to manually enter a name for each. With 100s to 1000s of entries per template, that is an impossible extra time investment.

2. One used to be able to call the initial characters by autocomplete if they were in teh autotext table and a full text block woudl appear if present. Then one had the choice to accept it or reject its use. Now one doe snot have that choice anymre. One has to basically gamble that the entry is there an ddo F3. One cannot preview it automatically. If F3 does not produce an entry then one has to go through a laborious process to add it to the table. The F3 manipulation become sobsolete.

3. The fact that one cannot store separate templates for different types of documents, but has to use galleries in one single template is also impractical. Such a huge database (with as many 1000s of templates we have to add now to that one file, slows down the application performance and also forces me to send a huge file to all contractors where I used to send a small one. Additionally I cannot merge the changes each contractor has made to his own gallery or galleries, since each contractor has a full database, not just one small part of it. It basically means I still need to create separate gloibal files anyway, each with one gallery.

The whole argument of MS that people where making errors with the autocomplete by typing too fast and selecting wrong text blocks, ocurred with us incidentally, but we always did an extra editing round to get rid of those. That was still much faster than what MS offers now. Insetad of resolving that minor problem, it was not solved but the functionality was removed, like insteda of cutting off a leg of a patient with a serious leg injury, you kill him instead.

What happened to 'choice' for users?

Peter Leeflang
LEEFLANG ARCHIVES CORP.