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Sometimes it seems like Microsoft Word has a mind of its own. You may have experienced one or more of the following:

• the first letter of every line is magically capitalized
• numbers or bullets appear from nowhere
• you type a short "-" and it turns into a long "-"
• a web address (e.g. www.sd13.org) turns blue, and when you try to change it, it connects you to the website

These phenomenon are occurring because of Word's AutoCorrect Tool. While this tool may seem like an annoyance, it offers many features that can be helpful to you (especially if your typing skills are a bit rusty). The good news is that you can turn off the annoying features of the AutoCorrect Tool and still use its useful ones.

To configure the AutoCorrect Tool, from the file menu, choose Tools, then AutoCorrect. This will open the AutoCorrect window. The AutoCorrect options are briefly explained below. (Note: The explanations reflect the effect that takes place when the option is checked.)

AutoCorrect Tab

• CORRECT TWO INITIAL CAPITALS: If you accidentally type two uppercase letters at the beginning of a word, the second letter is changed to lowercase.
• CAPITALIZE THE FIRST LETTER OF A SENTENCE: The first word of a sentence, line or any word after a period is automatically changed to uppercase.
• CAPITALIZE NAMES OF DAYS: The first letter of the names of the days of the week is automatically capitalized.
• CORRECT ACCIDENTAL USAGE OF CAPS LOCK KEY: If you hit the Caps Lock key by mistake, all uppercase letters are changed to lowercase and vice versa.
• REPLACE TEXT AS YOU TYPE: Text in the Replace: column is automatically replaced with the corresponding text in the With: column. You can add items to the list (for example, words that you frequently mistype) by typing the word or abbreviation to be replaced in the Replace: field, typing the replacement in the With: field, and choosing the Add button. You can delete items from the list by highlighting the item and choosing Delete.
• AUTOMATICALLY USE SUGGESTIONS FROM SPELLING CHECKER: Automatically replaces commonly misspelled words with words from Word's main spelling dictionary
• EXCEPTIONS: If you click on the Exceptions button, the AutoCorrect Exceptions window will open. From here, you can add exceptions to the AutoCorrect lists. To prevent the AutoCorrect Tool from capitalizing a word after a specific abbreviation, select the First Letter tab, and enter the abbreviation (including the period) in the Don't capitalize after: field. To add words that need to be typed with two initial capital letters, select the INitial CAps tab and enter the words in the Don't correct: field. Any misspelled words that you don't want automatically corrected can be added to the Don't correct: field under the Other Corrections tab.

AutoFormat As You Type and AutoFormat Tabs

AutoFormat makes changes to the formatting or appearance of your document. It automatically replaces certain characters with symbols, applies headings, bullets, numbered lists, and borders to your text. AutoFormat and AutoFormat As You Type share many of the same options. The difference between the two is that the As You Type formatting automatically makes changes to the document while you are typing, while changes made by the AutoFormat options are only invoked when you choose AutoFormat from the Format menu.

• APPLY HEADINGS: Document headings are automatically assigned (using Heading 1 through Heading 9).
• APPLY BORDERS (AS YOU TYPE ONLY): If you type three or more hyphens (---), underscores (___), equal signs (===), asterisks (***), tildes (~~~), or number signs (###), a horizontal border is automatically added to the bottom of the preceding paragraph.
• APPLY TABLES (AS YOU TYPE ONLY): If you type a series of plus signs and hyphens (+---+----+---+), a table will automatically be inserted into the document. Each plus sign indicates a column border, and the number of hyphens determines the width of each column. (This only works if you begin and end with a plus sign.)
• APPLY AUTOMATIC BULLETED LISTS: If you begin a paragraph by typing an asterisk (*), hyphen (-), greater than sign (>), or lowercase "o" (o) followed by a space or tab (two spaces or tabs if using the lowercase "o"), the paragraph will automatically be formatted as a bulleted list.
• APPLY AUTOMATIC NUMBERED LISTS (AS YOU TYPE ONLY): If you begin a paragraph with a number or letter followed by a period and a space or tab, the paragraph will automatically be formatted as a numbered list.
• APPLY LISTS (AUTOFORMAT ONLY): Bulleted and numbered lists are automatically assigned list styles.
• APPLY OTHER PARAGRAPHS(AUTOFORMAT ONLY): Paragraphs are automatically given a variety of paragraph styles (i.e. Body Text, Salutation, Inside Address).
• REPLACE "STRAIGHT QUOTES" WITH "SMART QUOTES ": Pairs of straight quotes are automatically replaced with curly quotes.
• REPLACE ORDINALS WITH SUPERSCRIPT: Plain ordinal expressions are replaced with superscripted expressions .
• REPLACE FRACTIONS WITH FRACTION CHARACTERS: Fraction expressions are automatically replaced with fraction symbols.
• REPLACE SYMBOL CHARACTERS WITH SYMBOLS: Certain symbol expressions (C), (R), and (TM) are automatically replaced with actual symbols ©, ®, and ™.
• REPLACE *BOLD* AND _ITALIC_ WITHREAL FORMATTING: Characters enclosed in asterisks (*bold*) are automatically formatted as bold (bold), and characters enclosed with underscores (_italic_) are automatically formatted as italic (italic).
• REPLACE INTERNET AND NETWORK PATHS WITH HYPERLINKS: Website URL's (www.sd13.org) are automatically changed to hyperlinks (www.sd13.org). If you click on the hyperlink, a web browser will open and take you to that website (assuming you are connected to the Internet).
• PRESERVE STYLES(AUTOFORMAT ONLY): Paragraphs that have already been assigned the Normal or Body Text style will not be reformatted when you run the AutoFormat command.
• ALWAYS AUTOFORMAT PLAIN TEXT WORDMAIL DOCUMENTS (AUTOFORMAT ONLY): Plain-text e-mail messages are automatically formatted when you open them in Word.
• AUTOMATICALLY FORMAT BEGINNING OF LIST ITEM LIKE THE ONE BEFORE IT (AS YOU TYPE ONLY): When items are added to a list, they are automatically formatted like the first item in the list.
• AUTOMATICALLY DEFINE STYLES BASED ON YOUR FORMATTING (AS YOU TYPE ONLY): New paragraph styles are automatically created based on formatting you have manually applied to other paragraphs.

AutoText Tab

The AutoText feature allows you to save frequently used blocks of text (i.e. your address) or graphics (i.e. a logo) so that they can easily be entered into documents. A list of AutoText entries can be seen under the AutoText tab of the AutoCorrect window. If the Show AutoComplete tip for AutoText and dates box is checked, a screen tip will automatically be displayed after typing the first few characters of an AutoText entry.

To create a new AutoText entry, type the block of text that you want to save. Highlight the block of text. From the Insert menu, choose AutoText, then New. In the Create AutoText window, type a name for your entry. (It's best to keep the name short because you will need to type it, or at least part of it, every time you want to enter the text in your document.)

To insert an AutoText entry into a document, begin typing the name of the entry as a separate word. If the Show AutoComplete tip for AutoText and dates box is checked, a screen tip will automatically be displayed after typing the first few characters of an AutoText entry. Press the Enter key to accept to insert the entry. (You can ignore the screen tip by continuing to type.) If you don't have the Show AutoComplete tip for AutoText and dates box checked you can insert the AutoText entry by going to the Insert menu and choosing AutoText. Choose your entry from the list of categories. (Unless you choose otherwise, your text entry is stored in the Normal category).