How to Manage AutoText with Word in Office 2011 for Mac

By Geetesh Bajaj and James Gordon from Office 2011 for Mac All-in-One For Dummies

You manage AutoText in Word 2011 for Mac by choosing Tools→AutoCorrect. Click the AutoText tab in the AutoCorrect preferences dialog. In the AutoCorrect preferences dialog, you can adjust settings for these additional features:

Automatically Correct Spelling and Formatting as You Type: This check box is an on/off switch for all the automatic Word behaviors shown on all the tabs of AutoCorrect preferences. Deselect the check box to turn off all aspects of AutoCorrect.
Show AutoComplete Tip for AutoText and Dates: This check box is probably the most important one for AutoText because it’s an on/off switch for AutoText’s AutoComplete feature. Deselecting this check box pretty much defeats the purpose of AutoText unless you want to turn off AutoText for a particular demonstration. If you deselect this, you can still use the AutoText toolbar All Entries pop-up menu or choose Insert→AutoText to manually put AutoText entries into your document. Also, you can turn AutoComplete back on by selecting the check box.

Review the other check boxes and make changes to suit your preferences. If you write many business letters with long text entries that are often repeated, you might want to leave most of these options selected.
Look In: This is a pop-up menu that lets you filter what AutoText entries are displayed in the AutoText entries list. You can choose from any currently open document template. AutoText entries are stored in templates.
Enter AutoText Entries Here: Take a look at the list of entries. If you see things in the list that you want to have AutoComplete finish, leave them. Otherwise, delete the entries you don’t need. Click OK when you’re done cleaning AutoText entries. Click a name to see a preview of the entry.
Delete: Select an AutoText entry; then click Delete to permanently remove it. AutoText entries are saved to Normal.dotm template. Changes to Normal template are saved when you quit Word.
Insert: Inserts the selected AutoText into your document at the position of the insertion cursor.
Add: If you select something before opening these preferences, you can type a name and click Add to create a new AutoText entry.

If you ever need to find your own AutoText entries, they’re stored in Word’s Normal template (Normal.dotm). You can use Organizer to copy AutoText entries from one template to another.

Choose Insert→AutoText and choose any existing AutoText entry to insert at the current cursor location. Your own custom AutoText entries will be found in the Normal submenu.