Have you come across AutoCorrect yet? Open up a Word document and type “teh”. Did it magically change to “the” in front of your eyes? That’s AutoCorrect.

So, it’s great for correcting common typing mistakes that lots of people make. But did you know that you can harness its power to help you write and type more efficiently and faster? In this article, I’ll tell you more about AutoCorrect and explain where to find it in different versions of Word, so you can tinker with it to tailor it to your requirements. In the next post, I explain just how to do that.

How to access AutoCorrect in Word 2003

Let’s look at Word 2003 first. You can find AutoCorrect under the Tools screen (I have to admit that it was so much better when it was so accessible, right here off a main menu. Nowadays, they like to hide it!). Click on Tools and then near the bottom, you’ll find AutoCorrect Options.

Once you’ve clicked on AutoCorrect Options, you’ll find yourself at a screen that will start to look familiar as you work your way through this article. This is where you can see what is already set up, and delete / change / add AutoCorrect entries as you wish. More about that in the next article!

How to access AutoCorrect in Word 2007

Here is how to access AutoCorrect in Word 2007. When I first moved over to Word 2007, I found it a bit hard to track down AutoCorrect – the key is to click on that Office button in the top left corner of the screen. When you do that, a menu will come up below the button, with a list of the files you’ve recently accessed (that’s what I’ve blanked out, for confidentiality purposes!), with a list of things you can do and, right at the bottom, a Word Options button. Click that button.

Once you have clicked on the Word Options button, you’re confronted with another menu (oh, for the simplicity of Word 2003!). You’ll find lots of intriguing options here, some of which we’ll be exploring in further articles, but for now, what you want is Proofing, about half way down on the left hand side. Click on Proofing and you will get a menu including the heading AutoCorrect Options. Click on the AutoCorrect Options button …

… and you come to a rather familiar screen, offering you a place to delete, change and add AutoCorrect entries as you wish. More about that in the next article! Note that you can also set up a shortcut button on your Quick Access Toolbar if you use this a lot.

How to access AutoCorrect in Word 2010

Now, in Word 2010 I feel like they’ve buried AutoCorrect just that one level deeper. But we’ll find it! To access AutoCorrect in Word 2010, you need to first click on that File tab, one to the left of Home, to which Word defaults. This has replaced the Office button from Word 2007. Anyway, Click on the File tab and you will be given a menu which, handily enough, doesn’t have a “Word Options” entry, but just Options. Click on Options.

Once you have clicked on Options, you will be given a new menu. This is quite similar to the one in Word 2007. Choose Proofing and then AutoCorrect Options.

… and here is your menu where you can see what is already set up, and delete / change / add AutoCorrect entries as you wish. More about that in the next article! Note that you can also set up a shortcut button on your Quick Access Toolbar if you use this a lot.

In the second half of this article, we look at how to tailor the automatic corrections to suit your purpose, whether you have a word you just can’t spell or type correctly, or you need to type a lot of words fast and want to auto-type particular common phrases.

Many thanks to Katharine O’Moore Klopf for the Word 2003 screen shots!

Please note, these hints work with versions of Microsoft Word currently in use – Word 2003, Word 2007 and Word 2010, all for PC. Mac compatible versions of Word should have similar options. Always save a copy of your document before manipulating it. I bear no responsibility for any pickles you might get yourself into!

This is part of my series on how to avoid time-consuming “short cuts” and use Word in the right way to maximise your time and improve the look of your documents. Find all the short cuts here …