Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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: Creating an AutoText List.
The AutoText feature of Word is quite powerful, allowing you to assign common blocks of text to shorter mnemonic names you define. If you use AutoText quite a bit, you may be interested in creating a drop-down list of AutoText entries in your document. This is done most easily through the use of the AUTOTEXTLIST field.
For example, lets say you have an area of your document where you want the reader to select from several different AutoText entries that can be inserted in a particular spot. You can follow these steps:
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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: 
{ AUTOTEXTLIST "[Pick an Entry]" }
At this point, anyone that right-clicks on the text ([Pick an Entry]) will see a listing of all the AutoText entries that have been defined, provided they use the same style as the paragraph in which the field is located. Thus, if the paragraph where you entered the AUTOTEXTLIST field is in a paragraph formatted as Body Text, only those AutoText entries that utilize the Body Text style will be listed. If there are none that use the style, then all of the AutoText entries appear in the listing.
If the user then picks an AutoText entry from the listing, that entry replaces the 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 (13285) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Creating an AutoText List.
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2015-05-15 16:00:09
Michele Harris
Thanks for this article. I use autotext regularly and would like to isolate a dozen or so lines of entry to a specific area of a document so that only some entries are viable in certain areas. this article does not explain the whole process effectively and I have found that the books like Word for Dummies is grossly elementary and limited. Can you tell me where I can get very detailed instructions for this process?
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.
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