Uppercase and Lowercase AutoCorrect Entries

Steven has set up an AutoCorrect entry that changes "Shp" to "Sheepskin". However, if he types "shp", AutoCorrect ignores it. He tried to add a lowercase "shp" to the AutoCorrect entries, but Word automatically changes it to "Shp" in the "Replace" box. Steven wonders how he can get Word to automatically change both "shp" and "Shp" to "Sheepskin."

After playing around with AutoCorrect for a bit, it quickly becomes obvious that how you capitalize both the "Replace" and "With" entries has significance. What you use depends on how you want AutoCorrect to do its work.

Here's how it works when it comes to the capitalization of the text in the "Replace" box:

• If the text is capitalized (Shp), then the user must type the word, as capitalized (Shp), in order for AutoCorrect to be triggered.
• If the text is lowercase (shp), then the user can type any variation of capitalization (shp, Shp, SHP) to trigger AutoCorrect.

Here's how capitalization of the text in the "With" box affects AutoCorrect:

• If the text is capitalized (Sheepskin), then that is exactly how the replacement text will appear (Sheepskin).
• If the text is lowercase (sheepskin), then the capitalization of the replacement text matches as closely as possible the capitalization of the "Replace" word as typed by the user. In other words typing "shp" means it is replaced with "sheepskin," typing "Shp" means it is replaced with "Sheepskin," and "SHP" is replaced with "SHEEPSKIN."

In Steven's case, what he is seeing follows these rules exactly. He set up the AutoCorrect entry as "Shp" being replaced with "Sheepskin." So, when he later types "shp" in the document, it is ignored. He should delete the AutoCorrect entry and replace it with a lowercase "shp" in the "Replace" box, and in the "With" box enter either "sheepskin" or—if he wants the replacement to always be initial capped—"Sheepskin."

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13495) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016.