Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 6, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365
Martin recently received, from his company's legal team, a list of phrases that they don't like to see in documents the company creates. For instance, in most cases the phrase "solution will" should be, instead, "solution is intended to." Martin wonders if there is a way to have this new list of phrases checked and flagged automatically in Word, perhaps through the grammar checker.
The grammar checker won't do it, unfortunately. There simply is no way, in Word, to add your own phrases so that the grammar checker can, well, "check" them.
It sounds, though, like you may need two solutions—one that will kick into play as you are composing new documents and another that can be used to check existing documents. The "as you compose" solution is actually quite easy—all you need to do is to use AutoCorrect to automatically change the offending phrases for you.
Figure 1. The AutoCorrect dialog box.
Now, as you type in your document, whenever an offending phrase is entered and the space or punctuation mark after that phrase is pressed, Word should automatically replace the phrase with the preferred phrase.
Of course, the AutoCorrect approach won't help with existing documents, nor will it help if blocks of text are copied from other documents and pasted into the current document. In those cases, you need a different approach. The simplest is to use the Find and Replace capabilities of Word to look for an offending phrase and make the determination if you want to replace it with the preferred phrase or not. This can work great if you have only a few phrases you need to correct.
If your list of phrases is considerably longer, you may want to consider using a macro to mark infractions. Here's a simple approach.
Sub ReplacePhrases() Dim sBadPhrase(19) As String Dim sGoodPhrase(19) As String Dim iCount As Integer Dim J As Integer iCount = 6 ' Set to number of phrases sBadPhrase(1) = "first offensive phrase" sBadPhrase(2) = "second offensive phrase" sBadPhrase(3) = "third offensive phrase" sBadPhrase(4) = "fourth offensive phrase" sBadPhrase(5) = "fifth offensive phrase" sBadPhrase(6) = "sixth offensive phrase" sGoodPhrase(1) = "first preferred phrase" sGoodPhrase(2) = "second preferred phrase" sGoodPhrase(3) = "third preferred phrase" sGoodPhrase(4) = "fourth preferred phrase" sGoodPhrase(5) = "fifth preferred phrase" sGoodPhrase(6) = "sixth preferred phrase" For J = 1 to iCount With Selection.Find .ClearFormatting .Replacement.ClearFormatting .Text = sBadPhrase(J) .Replacement.Text = sGoodPhrase(J) .Forward = True .Format = False .MatchWholeWord = False .MatchCase = False .MatchWildcards = False .Wrap = wdFindContinue End With Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll Next J End Sub
This macro does a mass replacement of the values stored in the sBadPhrase array with the phrases stored in the sGoodPhrase array. All you need to do is to set up the arrays with your phrases and change iCount so that it is equal to the number of phrases you have defined. (If you go above 19 phrases, you'll also need to change the declaration of the two arrays so that they are large enough.)
Note:
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (5140) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365.
Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!
Sometimes Word can be rather cryptic in the error messages it provides. One such cryptic message warns about "too many ...
Discover MoreWhen you use the Find and Replace dialog box to do editing, you could easily lose track of where you were before ...
Discover MoreSometimes typing isn't straight typing. Sometimes you need to perform special tasks, such as putting dashes between ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2018-01-16 15:56:40
Paul Hanson
Hint from my experience, after adding a 7th phrase and having it not work ... until I changed the the iCount value to 7.
2018-01-16 10:45:29
Andrew
As a matter of style, I like to format the code-created tables (and similar repetitive code) this way, which makes it easier, at a glance, to make sure everything is consistent:
sBadPhrase(1) = "first offensive phrase" : sGoodPhrase(1) = "first preferred phrase"
sBadPhrase(2) = "second offensive phrase" : sGoodPhrase(2) = "second preferred phrase"
sBadPhrase(3) = "third offensive phrase" : sGoodPhrase(3) = "third preferred phrase"
sBadPhrase(4) = "fourth offensive phrase" : sGoodPhrase(4) = "fourth preferred phrase"
sBadPhrase(5) = "fifth offensive phrase" : sGoodPhrase(5) = "fifth preferred phrase"
sBadPhrase(6) = "sixth offensive phrase" : sGoodPhrase(6) = "sixth preferred phrase"
2018-01-13 12:26:32
Allen
Neal,
Thanks for your comments. All of the explanations on this site are written specific to the Windows versions of Word. With you using a Mac version, there will be differences -- such as the one you note. (On the Mac you click the Word menu and then click Preferences to get to the same settings that are in the Word Options dialog box in the Windows version.)
This isn't the only difference, of course; there are many others. Even with the differences, I hope that you'll find the instructions helpful and understand that Mac users often need to do an "on the fly translation" from how things work under Windows.
-Allen
2018-01-13 12:04:04
Neal Perkins
I don't understand...
In the above tip comment it says:
"Display the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 and later versions display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)"
I looked all over...it's not there. In Word for Mac current subscription version, this option appears in:
Tools: AutoCorrect
If the above info is correct as I think, how many times does this sort of thing happen? I have wasted time a couple of times now on this sort of issue. I say all this still very appreciative of your service!
Thanks
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.
Visit the WordTips channel on YouTube
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2023 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments