Controlling AutoComplete for Month Names

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 17, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365

Bill has always been able to type the beginning of a month (like "Dece") and press Enter for completion. He recently had a hardware problem fixed by HP and they changed his system board, resetting the PC in the process. Bill installed Windows 11 and Word and the AutoComplete for month names no longer works. He wonders how he can turn this back on.

This is handled by a single configuration setting within Word. By default this setting should be turned on in Word, but it appears it may not be turned on in Bill's case. Follow these steps to make the change:

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.)
At the left side of the dialog box, click Advanced. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Editing area of the Word Options dialog box.

In the Editing Options area of the dialog box, make sure the Show AutoComplete Suggestions check box is selected. (This check box is near the bottom of the Editing Options area.)
Click on OK.

Word should now allow you to AutoComplete month names as you type.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11911) 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

Quickly Removing a Toolbar Button

Need to remove a toolbar button, but don't want to go through the hassle of displaying the Configure dialog box? You can ...

Discover More

Get Rid of Web Stuff

When you copy information from a Web page and paste it into a worksheet, you can end up with more than you bargained for. ...

Discover More

Using SUMIF with Text Parameters

The SUMIF function is supposed to work just fine doing comparisons with text values. This isn't a hard-and-fast rule, ...

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)

Backing Up Your AutoCorrect Entries

Develop a lot of AutoCorrect entries and you may start to wonder how you can back them up. You can easily protect all the ...

Discover More

Automatically Capitalizing Day Names

Type the name of any of the seven days into your document, and Word automatically makes sure it is capitalized. This is ...

Discover More

Adding Ampersands to Custom Dictionaries

It appears that Word doesn't allow you to define custom dictionary entries that include ampersands. There are ways 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 five 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.