AutoText Question

[Guest]

I'm trying to get Word XP to automatically insert the current date in a
document.

I turned on the AutoText option, but only the month appears after I type the
4th letter of the month's name. The numerical date doesn't appear, so I
cannot hit ENTER to let the date default to the current date.

I must be missing a step, but here is what I did to activate the AutoText
for the date:

Click Insert | AutoText | AutoText.
On the Smart Tags tab, I clicked Date (Smart tag lists).
Clicked OK.

After performing the above, I typed the first 4 letters of the month's name
in the document and the name of the month appeared. I pressed ENTER and the
month's name was entered in to the document for me. I continued to type the
numerical date, but the current date did NOT appear.

What am I missing??

Any information you can share would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Smart tags have nothing to do with AutoText.

You do want to have Tool Tips turned on.

The best way to insert a date in a regular place in a document is to put a
CreateDate field in the template for the document before you create it. See
http://addbalance.com/word/datefields1.htm for information on the different
kinds of datefields and how to format them.

--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
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[Guest]

Charles, thanks for your suggestions.

Screen Tips was already turned on.

I still think there is a switch of some kind that prompts Word to display
the current date, then allows the user to either press ENTER to accept the
default date or allows the user to continue typing the desired text.

--
Thanks again,
getravel (Mike)

Smart tags have nothing to do with AutoText.

You do want to have Tool Tips turned on.

The best way to insert a date in a regular place in a document is to put a
CreateDate field in the template for the document before you create it. See
http://addbalance.com/word/datefields1.htm for information on the different
kinds of datefields and how to format them.

--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

The AutoComplete option does this.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.

Charles, thanks for your suggestions.

Screen Tips was already turned on.

I still think there is a switch of some kind that prompts Word to display
the current date, then allows the user to either press ENTER to accept the
default date or allows the user to continue typing the desired text.

 

[Guest]

Hi again, Charles.

I clicked Insert | AutoText | AutoText.

On the AutoText tab, I clicked the 'Show AutoComplete suggestions' checkbox
so that a check mark appears in the check box.

I clicked OK.

When I started typing the date in to a Word document, the name of the month
(September) appeared after I typed the first 4 letters. I pressed Enter to
accept the default, and then I continued to type the date (the 7th). I was
NOT prompted by the default; today's date. I had to type the date and the
year manually.

Any ideas as to why the date and year are not defaulting to the current
date/year??

 

[Charles Kenyon]

No idea because I never use this feature, I use datefields in my templates.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

That's the way Word currently works. If you continue to type the entire
month name (without accepting the AutoComplete suggestion), then
AutoComplete will offer you the rest of the date. But, as Charles says,
inserting a CreateDate field in your template would be a much simpler way of
accomplishing this. Or you can use Alt+Shift+D to insert a Date field in
your preferred format (the one you have selected as the default in Insert |
Date and Time) and then unlink it.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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