Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Inserting the User's Initials.

Inserting the User's Initials

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 10, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

Word automatically maintains several items of information about you, as a user. One such item is your initials, which can be changed in this manner:

Display the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 or a later version, display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
Make sure that General is selected at the left of the dialog box.
Modify the information in the Initials box, as desired.
Click on OK.

If you want to automatically insert your initials in your documents, you can follow these steps:

Position the insertion point where you want the initials inserted.
Make sure the Insert tab of the ribbon is selected.
In the Text group, click Quick Parts. You'll see a drop-down menu.
Choose Field. Word displays the Field dialog box.
In the Categories drop-down list, choose User Information. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Field dialog box.

In the Field Names list choose UserInitials.
Click on OK to close the dialog box and insert your field.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (5954) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Inserting the User's Initials.

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

Selecting the Entire Document with the Mouse

Want a quick way to select your entire document without taking your hand off of the mouse? Try clicking away using the ...

Discover More

Repeating Table Rows with Manual Page Breaks

Need to make sure part of a table is on one page and part on another? The way to do so is not to use manual page breaks, ...

Discover More

Adding a Background to Your Document

Document backgrounds come in handy if you plan on converting the document to a Web page. Here's how you can add a ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Monday's Date on Friday's Report

Automatically putting today's date at the top of a report is easy. Putting a different date, automatically, can be more ...

Discover More

Inserting the Document Creation Date

One of the pieces of information tracked by Word is when a document was first created. Here's how you can access that ...

Discover More

Stopping DATE Fields from Updating when Opening a Document

A normal DATE field shows the current date, so it is constantly changing. This can cause problems in a document where you ...

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 four more than 5?

2021-07-11 18:54:06

Michelle

Hi, regarding track changes and adding user initials - is it at all possible somehow to update the user initials AFTER the edits have been made?

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.