Can't Save Formatted AutoCorrect Entries

Gary can't make Word handle formatted text in AutoCorrect entries like it used to. He'd like to have "ch" converted into "Champion" where the text is formatted as small caps. He can copy the properly formatted "Champion" to the Clipboard, but when he pastes it into the "With" field when creating the AutoCorrect entry, the text is all caps and the "Formatted Text" radio button is unavailable.

The problem isn't necessarily with the AutoCorrect function, but with the way in which you are trying to create the AutoCorrect entry. If you don't use the Clipboard in your creation process, you shouldn't run into the problem. Try these steps:

1. Type the word "champion" and format it as you want it to appear in the AutoCorrect entry.
2. Select the entire word.
3. 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.)
4. At the left of the dialog box click Proofing.
5. Click AutoCorrect Options. Word displays the AutoCorrect dialog box with the selected text (step 2) already entered in the With box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The AutoCorrect dialog box.

6. Make sure the Formatted Text radio button is selected.
7. In the Replace box type "ch" (without the quote marks).
8. Click the Add button.
9. Click Close to close the AutoCorrect dialog box.
10. Click OK to close the Word Options dialog box.

Of course, the question still remains—why doesn't using the Clipboard to paste the text into the AutoCorrect dialog box work? The reason is because the dialog box cannot seem to handle receiving any formatting information that may be contained in the Clipboard; it can receive only the text.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (6097) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365.