Store Common Addresses in Building Blocks

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 30, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365

If you write lots of letters, you'll appreciate this one. Store your common address—the ones to whom you write letters the most—in Building Blocks. In this way, you can input just the first (or last) name of the person you need, press F3, and have the address inserted at the top of your letterhead—sure beats typing it out all the time.

To define an address as a Building Block, follow these steps:

Select the paragraphs containing the address.
Press Alt+F3. Word displays the Create New Building Block dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Create New Building Block dialog box.

Replace the contents of the Name field with the name you want assigned to the address. For instance, use the last name of the person or the person's title.
Use the Gallery drop-down list to choose AutoText.
Click on OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (5932) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365.

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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Displaying the "Last Modified" Date

Want to know when a workbook was last modified? Want to put that date within the header of your worksheet? Here's how to ...

Discover More

Changing Y-Axis Label Width

Excel provides quite a bit of flexibility in how your chart looks. One of the least flexible places is in adjusting the ...

Discover More

Strange Message about Others Making Changes in a Workbook

Have you ever tried to save a workbook, only to be notified that someone else has made changes in it? What if you are the ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Printing AutoText Entries

If you want to print a list of the AutoText entries on your system, you can do so quickly by making one change on the ...

Discover More

Saving AutoText Entries with Each Document

AutoText can be a great way to add consistent, common text to a document. Unfortunately, you cannot save AutoText entries ...

Discover More

Inserting Text with a Shortcut Key

The AutoText capabilities of Word are quite powerful, allowing you to insert all sorts of "boilerplate" information in ...

Discover More

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.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is two minus 1?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

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.