Uppercase and Lowercase AutoCorrect Entries

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 9, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021


4

Steven has set up an AutoCorrect entry that changes "Shp" to "Sheepskin". However, if he types "shp", AutoCorrect ignores it. He tried to add a lowercase "shp" to the AutoCorrect entries, but Word automatically changes it to "Shp" in the "Replace" box. Steven wonders how he can get Word to automatically change both "shp" and "Shp" to "Sheepskin."

After playing around with AutoCorrect for a bit, it quickly becomes obvious that how you capitalize both the "Replace" and "With" entries has significance. What you use depends on how you want AutoCorrect to do its work.

Here's how it works when it comes to the capitalization of the text in the "Replace" box:

  • If the text is capitalized (Shp), then the user must type the word, as capitalized (Shp), in order for AutoCorrect to be triggered.
  • If the text is lowercase (shp), then the user can type any variation of capitalization (shp, Shp, SHP) to trigger AutoCorrect.

Here's how capitalization of the text in the "With" box affects AutoCorrect:

  • If the text is capitalized (Sheepskin), then that is exactly how the replacement text will appear (Sheepskin).
  • If the text is lowercase (sheepskin), then the capitalization of the replacement text matches as closely as possible the capitalization of the "Replace" word as typed by the user. In other words typing "shp" means it is replaced with "sheepskin," typing "Shp" means it is replaced with "Sheepskin," and "SHP" is replaced with "SHEEPSKIN."

In Steven's case, what he is seeing follows these rules exactly. He set up the AutoCorrect entry as "Shp" being replaced with "Sheepskin." So, when he later types "shp" in the document, it is ignored. He should delete the AutoCorrect entry and replace it with a lowercase "shp" in the "Replace" box, and in the "With" box enter either "sheepskin" or—if he wants the replacement to always be initial capped—"Sheepskin."

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13495) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021.

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

Flipping Landscape Orientation when Printing

When printing a worksheet, you may want to rotate the output on the page to fit a certain orientation. Excel doesn't ...

Discover More

Dates Updating when Converting

Word allows you to convert documents from WordPerfect format to Word. In doing so, you may notice that some dates in the ...

Discover More

Choosing How to Use Multiple Monitors

Do you have multiple monitors (or a projector) hooked up to your system? Here's how to utilize that second display device ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Make AutoCorrect Pay Attention to Character Case

If you rely on AutoCorrect (as most Word users do), you may have noticed that it doesn't always give the desired results ...

Discover More

Controlling AutoComplete for Month Names

Word has a feature called AutoComplete which is helpful when typing some comment things, such as month names. This tip ...

Discover More

Turning Off Capital Corrections

If you type two capital letters at the beginning of a word, Word assumes that you made a typing error and will attempt to ...

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.

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.

What is 2 + 8?

2024-03-10 14:59:22

Tomek

Re: Here's how it works when it comes to the capitalization of the text in the "Replace" box:

If the text is capitalized (Shp), then the user must type the word, as capitalized (Shp), in order for AutoCorrect to be triggered.
------------------
The situation becomes less clear if you type a capital letter inside the word. For example typing sHp or shP or sHP or SHP will all trigger AutoCorrect; the result will depend on capitalization of the "With" word.

Also, if the replace word contains any capital letters within it the AutoCorrect will be triggered by any word that has the capital letter anywhere, whether it matches the position in the Replace word or not. So for example ipHone as the replace word will be triggered by Iphone, iPhone, or iphonE (but not iphone).


2024-03-10 13:53:37

Tomek

Note that:
shp -> sheepskin may still be capitalized if it is the first word of the sentence.


2024-03-10 13:40:45

Tomek

@Karl:
read the tip again paying attention to the following part of the tip:

Here's how capitalization of the text in the "With" box affects AutoCorrect:
[,,,]
- If the text is lowercase (sheepskin), then the capitalization of the replacement text matches as closely as possible the capitalization of the "Replace" word as typed by the user. In other words typing "shp" means it is replaced with "sheepskin," typing "Shp" means it is replaced with "Sheepskin," and "SHP" is replaced with "SHEEPSKIN."

------
Make sure you use all lowercase in the "Replace:" box.


2024-03-09 15:47:26

Karl

This is great, except it doesn't help with using autocorrect to correct "Shp" and "shp" so that Shp = Sheepskin and shp = sheepskin. How do you do that?


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
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.