Microsoft Office 2003 Training Blog

Do you find yourself entering the same things into a document over and over, such as your company address and logo, or the same introduction paragraph for client letters? Repetitious tasks not only take a lot of time, they drain your energy. Word has an efficient solution: AutoText.

AutoText is a quick way to insert the text and shapes you use frequently, such as a return address or canned paragraph, or text boxes or WordArt. All you have to do is create an AutoText entry that contains the text and/or graphics that you want to reuse, then insert that entry whenever you need it in other documents.

Creating an AutoText entry

You can think of AutoText as a permanent clipboard that stores text and objects that you can access at any time.

Note: AutoText entries are saved in the template from which the current document was created. The entries are then available in any documents created from that template.

1. Select the content you want to reuse.
   You can create AutoText entries from anything you can insert in a Word document, including tables, AutoShapes, and even charts.
2. Select Insert > AutoText > New from the menu (or press <Alt> + <F3>).
   The Create AutoText dialog box appears. Word suggests a name for the entry, but you may want to use a name that you will easily remember instead.
3. Type a name for the AutoText entry in the box and click OK.
   The Create AutoText dialog box closes and the new AutoText entry is stored in the template on which the current document is based.
   

Inserting an AutoText entry

Once AutoText entries are available, they can be inserted in documents.

Note: AutoText entries are only available in documents created from the template in which the entry is saved.

1. Select Insert > AutoText > AutoText from the menu.
   The AutoText tab of the AutoCorrect dialog box appears. 
2. Scroll down the list of AutoText entries, select an entry, and click Insert.
   Notice that when you select an entry a preview of it appears in the dialog box.
   

Melissa Peterson
Senior Author, CustomGuide
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