Word has several AutoFormat functions that make formatting changes based on what you have typed. Word gives you control over which automatic formatting tools are enabled. Follow these tips to learn which AutoFormat features you want to keep and which ones may be more trouble than they are worth.

Tips, Tricks, and Answers

The following articles are available for the 'AutoFormat' topic. Click the article''s title (shown in bold) to see the associated article.

   Adding Automatic Lines
Want an easy way to add lines in your document? You can do it by making sure Word is using one of its AutoFormat features.

   After Pressing Enter, Text Becomes a Heading
Word provides several built-in tools that can affect how what you type is formatted. One of those tools can even change your text automatically into headings. Here's how to stop that behavior.

   AutoFormat Won't Convert a Right Arrow
Word can automatically convert different sequences of text characters into single-character symbols. It might appear that this capability is controlled by Word's AutoFormat feature, but it is actually controlled by a different feature—AutoCorrect.

   AutoFormatting a Document
The AutoFormat feature of Word can be configured to make changes to a variety of conditions in your document. Here's how to change the settings so that it performs just the formatting changes you want.

   Automatically Using Smart Quotes
As a way to make your documents look more professional, Word can utilize "smart quotes" for both quote marks and apostrophes. Here's what that term actually means and how to control the capability in Word.

   Changing AutoFormatting Rules
The AutoFormat feature of Word can be configured to make changes to a variety of conditions in your document. Here's how to change the settings so that it performs just the formatting changes you want.

   Controlling Automatic Indenting
Type a tab character and you might just find that Word adjusts the indentation of the entire paragraph. If you don't like Word making assumptions about indentation based how you use the tab key, then you can turn this feature off using the steps in this tip.

   Controlling URL Formatting
When you type a URL into a document, Word helpfully converts it to a live hyperlink. If you don't want Word to be quite that helpful, here's how to turn off (or on) the conversion of those URLs.

   Creating a Table Using the Keyboard
Want to easily add a table to your document simply by typing a few keystrokes? Here's how you can do it in one easy step.

   Formatting E-mail using AutoFormat
If you copy the text of an e-mail message to a Word document, you may notice that the formatting of the text leaves a lot to be desired. If you are faced with formatting text that originated in an e-mail, you'll appreciate the information presented in this tip.

   Persistent AutoFormat as You Type Settings
It can be frustrating when you change settings and they later change all on their own. If the settings you want to remain constant change when you don't want them to, then you may find that creating a macro to address the issue is the best approach.

   Removing Automatic Lines
Type a few dashes, underscores, or equal signs, and you could end up with a full-width line in your document. This is normal behavior for Word, but it may not be the behavior you want. This tip explains why you get these types of lines and how you can get rid of them.

   Replacing Some Smart Quotes
Smart quotes look great in a document, but may not be right for all instances of quote marks or apostrophes. If you need to replace some smart quotes, but not all of them, then you'll want to understand the technique described in this tip.

   Smart Quotes in AutoCorrect Entries
Smart quotes can add a finishing touch to your text. You might expect that when AutoCorrect is used to add text, it would also include smart quotes. This is not necessarily so, for the reasons described in this tip.

   The Line that Won't Go Away
Have you ever had a line appear on your document that you can't seem to get rid of? It could be due to a built-in line-generating feature in Word. This tip explains the feature, shows how to control it, and finally discloses how to get rid of those bothersome lines in your document.

   Turning Off Automatic Numbered Lists
Type what Word thinks is a numbered list, and it will helpfully format the text to match what it thinks your numbered list should look like. If you don't want Word to automatically do such formatting, you need the info in this tip.