Stopping EHR from Correcting

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 3, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021

Kirk writes about Electronic Health Records (EHR) from time to time. Whenever he types EHR in a document, Word automatically changes it to HER. Kirk has tried putting in EHR as a definition in the proofing section, but it does not help.

This is not an issue for the spelling checker, where I assume Kirk is creating the definition he mentions, but instead is something being done by AutoCorrect. Word comes with many pre-defined AutoCorrect entries, and this happens to be one of those. To fix it, follow these steps:

Display the Word Options dialog box. (Display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
Click Proofing at the left side of the screen.
Click AutoCorrect Options. Word displays the AutoCorrect tab of the AutoCorrect dialog box.
In the list of AutoCorrect entries, locate and select the entry that has "ehr" in the left column. The AutoCorrect entry should move up into the Replace and With boxes. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. Finding the AutoCorrect option.

Click the Delete button.
Close any open dialog boxes.

Anytime you type EHR in the future, it should now remain unchanged. If you type something else and it automatically changes to something you don't want, remember that you can press Ctrl+Z right after the change and Word will undo it.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11668) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021.

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...

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