Microsoft Word XP (2002) Free Tutorial

Work with AutoText

AutoText items are pre-built text and objects that you can quickly insert into a document. When Word’s AutoComplete option is turned on, these items appear as pop-ups when you type. You can insert the complete entry simply by pressing Enter.

For example, when you begin typing a date, Word interprets the first few letters of the month and displays the word in a popup. Press Enter to insert the completed word into your document.

If you then press the space bar, Word displays today’s date, which you can insert by again pressing Enter.

If you don’t want to insert Word’s AutoComplete suggestion, you need only continue typing.

To turn AutoComplete on and off:

1. Open the Insert menu and select AutoText, and then AutoText again.

The AutoCorrect dialog opens.

1. Select or clear Show AutoComplete tip for AutoText and dates.

Tip:

Additional AutoCorrect options are available on the AutoCorrect tab. You can, for example, leave AutoCorrect on, but choose to prevent Word from replacing text as you type.

1. Click OK to close the dialog.

Word includes a large number of pre-built AutoText entries, which you can select from the AutoText submenu:

1. Position the insertion point where you want to insert the AutoText.
2. Open the Insert menu and select AutoText.
3. The AutoText submenu contains additional submenus for AutoText categories. Select a submenu, and then the particular AutoText entry you want to insert.

Create New AutoText

You can create your own AutoText entries, formatted text and objects you use repeatedly, so you don’t have to continually recreate them. To create an AutoText entry:

1. First, create the text or graphic and format it as you want it.
2. Select the entry. To include the formatting in the AutoText entry:
   1. Show paragraph marks by clicking the Show/Hide Paragraph button on the Standard toolbar.
   2. Select the text or graphic and the final paragraph mark .
3. If necessary, show the AutoText toolbar: From the View menu, select Toolbars and then AutoText.
4. On the toolbar, click the New button.
5. In the Create AutoText dialog, enter a name for your entry. Use at least 4 characters; this allows Word to insert the entry when you type using AutoComplete.

1. Click OK.

The entry is listed in the AutoText submenu under the style that was used to create the entry (for example, Normal). To insert the entry into a document, open the Insert menu and select it from the appropriate AutoText submenu.

Use AutoCorrect

The AutoCorrect feature in Word automatically corrects spelling and capitalization errors as you type. To turn on AutoCorrect:

1. Open the Tools menu and select AutoCorrect.

The AutoText dialog box opens to the AutoCorrect tab.

1. Select or clear the options you want Word to use when autocorrecting your document. To enter your own corrections, complete the Replace and With fields, and then click Add.
2. Select Replace text as you type. (Clear the check box to turn off AutoCorrect.)
3. Click OK.

Spell Check Your Work

To spell check your document:

1. Open the Tools menu and select Spelling and Grammar (or press F7 on your keyboard).

Word begins checking the document. When it finds a word it doesn’t recognize, it opens the Spelling and Grammar dialog.

The word is colored red in the top pane, which also displays the surrounding text. Suggested corrections are listed in the bottom pane.

Tip:

If Word displays a word or phrase in green, it is indicating a possible error in grammar. To stop it from checking grammar, uncheck the Check grammar box at the bottom left of the dialog.

2.To correct the error using one of the suggestions, highlight the suggestion and click the Change button.

Tip:

Click the Options button to select options for the spell check, such as ignoring words in uppercase and checking spelling as you type.

3.If the correct word doesn’t appear in the list, you can make corrections directly in the top pane. Just click inside the pane and type as you would in the document. Then click the Change button to apply your changes.

4.To ignore the word and keep it as you typed it, click the Ignore button.

Tip:

Use the Change All or Ignore All button to change or ignore the word throughout the document.

Word completes the spell check and closes the dialog.

Create a New Dictionary

You can create a new custom dictionary, which you might use, for example, to maintain entries for particular types of documents, such as legal reports or medical reports.

To create a new dictionary:

1. Open the Tools menu and select Options.
2. In the Options dialog, click the Spelling & Grammar tab.

1. Click the Dictionaries button.
2. Click the New button.

5.Enter a file name into the dialog that opens and click Save.

The new dictionary is now available for selection in the Custom Dictionary menu on the Spelling & Grammar tab of the Options dialog.

Add to the Custom Dictionary

Microsoft Word includes the ability to add words to a custom dictionary used when you spell check your document.

For example, if you use a proper noun in your document, you might want Word to ignore it as an error. Adding it to the custom dictionary also causes Word to check the document for misspelled instances of the word, as you entered it into the dictionary.

To add a word to the custom dictionary:

1. Open the Tools menu and select Options.
2. In the Options dialog, click the Spelling & Grammar tab.

1. Click the Dictionaries button.
2. In the Custom Dictionaries dialog, highlight the dictionary you want to edit (but be careful not to uncheck it) and click Edit.

1. In the new window that opens, add the word as it should be spelled in the document. To add multiple words, press Enter after each word.

1. On the Standard toolbar, click Save to save the entries.
2. Close the window.

Tip:

You can quickly add a word to the custom dictionary during a spell check:

1.Spell check your document by pressing F7 on your keyboard (or selecting Spelling and Grammar from the Tools menu).

2.When the spell check highlights a word you want to add to the custom dictionary, click the Add button.

Word adds the word to the dictionary and resumes the spell check.

Remove from the Custom Dictionary

To remove a word from the custom dictionary:

1. Open the Tools menu and select Options.
2. In the Options dialog, click the Spelling & Grammar tab.

1. Click the Dictionaries button.
2. In the Custom Dictionaries dialog, highlight the custom dictionary and click Edit.

1. In the window that opens, delete the word from the list.
2. On the Standard toolbar, click Save to save the change.
3. Close the window.