AutoText for Entering Text and Graphics

Word has a special feature called AutoText for entering the blurbs, salutations, and what-all that people enter time and time again as they write letters, construct headers and footers, and do other things besides. By creating an AutoText entry or choosing one from Word's list, you spare yourself the trouble of typing them yourself. And you can also insert a graphic as an AutoText entry and spare yourself the considerable trouble of importing it, resizing it, and perhaps changing its color or hue. This section explains how to insert an AutoText entry as well as devise AutoText entries of your own.

Inserting an AutoText Entry in a Document

Figure 8-8 shows the AutoText entries on the Closing submenu. Click one of these entries to close a letter and save yourself the trouble of typing Love, Respectfully yours, Yours truly, or another letter closing. To insert one of Word's AutoText entries, follow these steps:

1.      Place the cursor where the words in the AutoText entry should go.

2.      Choose Insert | AutoText.

3.      On the submenu, click the name of the category in which the AutoText entry you want to make is found. In Figure 8-8, the category is "Closing." AutoText entries you create yourself appear on the Normal submenu.

4.      On the submenu, click the word or words you want to insert.

"Automatic" AutoText Entries

AutoText entries on the Normal, Signature, and Signature Company submenus can be entered without choosing Insert | AutoText. To enter one of those AutoText entries, type the first four letters. After the fourth letter, a small box appears and lists the rest of the AutoText entry. Press the Enter key or F3 at that point to insert the entire AutoText entry:

Illustration 5

Creating Your Own AutoText Entries

Besides making use of the generic AutoText entries in Word, you can create AutoText entries of your own. Homemade AutoText entries appear on the Normal submenu (choose Insert | AutoText | Normal). Follow these steps to create an AutoText entry of your own:

1.      Enter or create the address, graphic, slogan, motto, logo, or whatnot that you want to be an AutoText entry.

2.      Select the item you just created.

3.      Choose Insert | AutoText | New. You see the Create AutoText dialog box:

4.      Word 2000 enters the first few words of the entry (if yours is a text entry), but you can enter a name of your own by typing it in the text box.

5.      Click OK.

Deleting AutoText Entries

The AutoText submenus are crowded with AutoText entries, some of which you no doubt will never need or use. Therefore, you might consider pruning the list of AutoText entries to make the ones you do want easier to find. And if you change addresses or change names, you would have to delete a homemade AutoText entry, too.

Follow these steps to delete an AutoText entry:

1.      Choose Insert | AutoText, and then click AutoText. As shown in Figure 8-9, you see the AutoText tab of the AutoCorrect dialog box.

Callouts

Click the Delete button to delete the entry.

Click the entry to be deleted.

2.      Find and click the AutoText entry you want to delete. The entries are in alphabetical order below the Enter AutoText Entries Here box.

3.      Click the Delete button.

4.      Click the Close button.