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Some of your typos and spelling errors will never be graced with the red zigzag that you might normally see for misspelled words. That's because Word quickly fixes hundreds of common typos and spelling errors on the fly. It's done by the AutoCorrect feature, and you really have to be quick to see it.
AutoCorrect in action
There's nothing to using AutoCorrect; it happens automatically. In Word, try to type the word mispell. You can't! Word uses AutoCorrect, and suddenly you see misspell.
Most of the commonly misspelled words can be found in AutoCorrect's repertoire: beleive, suposed, recieve, and so on. Try a few. See if you can baffle Word!
Beyond spelling, AutoCorrect fixes some common punctuation. It automatically capitalizes the first letter of a sentence. AutoCorrect capitalizes I when you forget to, properly capitalizes the names of days, fixes the iNVERSE cAPS lOCK pROBLEM, plus fixes other common typos.
Adding your own AutoCorrect entries
One of the joys of AutoCorrect is that you can add your own commonly misspelled words to its list. Follow these steps:
1. Right-click the misspelled word.
Normally, you choose the proper spelling from the list. But that fixes the word only once. Instead:
2. Click the AutoCorrect item.
Up pops a submenu containing various corrections.
3. Choose the properly spelled word from the AutoCorrect submenu.
The word is added to the AutoCorrect list, and, as a special favor, Word corrects the word in your text as well.
Whenever your typo is encountered, Word automatically corrects it for you. But you must remember to use the AutoCorrect item from the spell-check-thingy pop-up menu on your first sighting of the misspelled word rather than just choose the corrected word from the list.
 | If possible, try to add only lowercase words with AutoCorrect. When you add a word with an initial capital letter, such as Werd, AutoCorrect replaces only words with an initial capital letter. When you use AutoCorrect on a word that's all lowercase, it's fixed every time. |
Undoing an AutoCorrect correction
You can reverse AutoCorrect instant changes, but only when you're quick. The secret is to press Backspace or Ctrl+Z (the Undo command) immediately after AutoCorrect makes its correction. When you do that, you see a rectangle under the first letter of the still-corrected word.
Point the mouse at the rectangle to see the AutoCorrect Options icon. Clicking the downward-pointing arrow on the icon displays some choices:
- Change Back to "whatever": Choose this option to undo the AutoCorrection.
- Stop Automatically Correcting "whatever": Choose this option to remove the word from the AutoCorrect library so that it's not corrected automatically again. (But it may still be flagged as incorrect by the spell checker.)
- Control AutoCorrect Options: This item displays the AutoCorrect dialog box, which is used to customize various AutoCorrect settings and edit or create new entries in the AutoCorrect library.
 | You don't have to go with the AutoCorrection. If you don't like the change, press Ctrl+Z to undo or use Backspace to fix the AutoCorrect option. Clicking the blue rectangle is optional. |
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