AutoFormat In Word Document


Many of Word’s tools work in the background to make your writing as well formatted as possible. Word will check your spelling and grammar and even correct typing mistakes.

Word will also automatically format your document as you type. Word can ensure that your bulleted lists look nice and uniform and that common fractions that you type out such as 1/2 immediately convert to a symbol such as 1⁄2. Also, Word can change straight quotes into custom, rounded quotes, sometimes called smart quotes.

Request Options
You manage AutoFormat-related commands from one of the Word Options pages. Click your Office button and select Word Options to display the Word Options dialog box.

Display the AutoFormat Dialog Box
Click the Proofing tab and then click the AutoCorrect button to display the AutoCorrect dialog box. Click the AutoFormat As You Type tab to change the way Word formats text as you type.

Manage the AutoFormat Options
When you first install or work with Word, most of the AutoFormat options will be selected. For example, the option labeled Internet and Network Paths with Hyperlinks will be selected. That means that any time you type an Internet web address such as www.BidMentor.com, Word will change the text to a link that is clickable and that takes you straight to the related website.

Monitor Lists and Lines
The Apply as You Type section of your AutoCorrect dialog box determines how much Word helps you create bulleted lists, numbered lists, tables, lines, and so forth.

Normally, when you start typing a numbered list by typing 1. on a line followed by a space and text, Word senses that you’re creating a numbered list, and when you press Enter at the end of the line Word automatically starts the second item in the list with the number “2.” Also, Word creates a table for you when you start a table by typing plus signs with hyphens between them, such as +——+——+——+, which Word converts to a three-column table. Also, Word will change a row of five or more hyphens to a straight line across the page.

You can retain or reject any of these automatically formatted routines by clicking to check or uncheck the appropriate options.

Change the Format Consistency Settings
The section titled Automatically as You Type consist of several consistency settings. Word will format a list of items like the first item in the list you type; for example, if you start typing “(a) Apples” and press Enter, Word starts the next line with “(b)” followed by a space to prepare you for the second item in your list. Also, Word will monitor grammatical formatting issues, such as ensuring that you have matching opening and closing parentheses in a document.

Prepare to Format After You Type
Depending on your requirements, you might want Word to apply your AutoFormats after you type a document instead of as you type it. This might be a rare case, but suppose that you receive a document attached to an email that you didn’t write but that you want to use. If you want to apply your specific AutoFormat settings to that document, you need a way to apply the AutoFormat procedure on completed documents.

Format After You Type
The way you apply an AutoFormat to a document isn’t as clear as most other features are in Word 2007. As a matter of fact, it seems as though you must resort to previous versions of Word’s menus to access this feature.

Press Alt+O and then press A to simulate selecting from the Format, AutoFormat menu of previous versions of Word. Word displays the AutoFormat dialog box so that you can accept or reject each format change or apply your AutoFormat settings to your entire document at one time.