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How To Write Documents Faster & Save Your Fingers From Exhaustion

November 17th, 2009 · View Comments · How To, Productivity, Technical Writing, Tips, Word 2007, Word 2010

What to know how to type faster and get those documents out the door quicker?
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How To Write Documents Faster & Save Your Fingers From Exhaustion

Most people don’t know what the AutoCorrect feature in Word really does.

Most people think it’s there to correct the odd typo and clean up your document AFTER you have written it.

That’s true but…

I use to correct the document AS I WRITE and to enter longs strings of text automatically.

Why bother?

When I write user guides, for example. I use a similar structure for the intro, bullet lists and instructions.

Instead of writing, ‘follow these steps’, I type onto the page in Word the letters fts.

Word then automatically writes, follow these steps: on the page.

Do you see how useful this can be?

You can also use it to o automatically detect and correct typos, misspelled words, and incorrect capitalization. It’s very powerful when you look into it and has saved me 100s of hours of manual typing.

Another example?

When I type ar1, AutoCorrect replaces it with “Annual Report.”

Or if you type ‘Teh Executrie summary states’ with a space, AutoCorrect replaces what you have typed with “The Executive Summary states.”

You can also use AutoCorrect to insert symbols, such as copyright symbols.

Note: Text included in hyperlinks is not automatically corrected.

So, how can I do this?

To autocorrect your Word Documents, follow these steps:

1.a In Word 2003, click Tools, AutoCorrect Options.

1.b In Word 2007, click Start, Word Options, Proofing and then the AutoCorrect Options.

How To Write Documents Faster & Save Your Fingers From Exhaustion

2. In the Replace box, type a word or phrase that you often mistype or misspell – for example, type Micorsoft.

3. In the With box, type the correct spelling of the word – for example, type Microsoft.

4. Click Add.

Add a few more! Go on!

Spend 15 min here and add in shortcuts for words, sentence and strings (e.g. Please follow these steps: etc) you use regularly.

What other tips do you know to write documents faster?

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View Comments so far ↓

  • Kai

    Lifehacker's Texter requires an extra keystroke, (e.g., Tab after a shortcut), but it does this anywhere on your PC, not just in Word: http://lifehacker.com/238306/lifehacker-code-te...

  • ivanwalsh

    Thanks for the tip, Kai.

    heading over there right now.

    Ivan

  • ivanwalsh

    Unlike software-specific text replacement features, Texter runs in the Windows system tray and works in any application you're typing in. Texter can also set return-to markers for your cursor and insert clipboard contents into your replacement text, in addition to more advanced keyboard macros. Did we mention it's free?

    License: GNU Public License

    What it does: Lets you define text substitution hotstrings that, when triggered, will replace hotstring with a larger piece of text. By entering your most commonly-typed snippets of text into Texter, you can save countless keystrokes in the course of the day.

    One common use example given for applications like Texter is email signatures. For example, you could define a series of hotstrings that would be replaced by different signatures. So something like sig1 will automatically be replaced by your full signature when triggered.
    Basic Use

    As you can see from the video, there are a lot of ways that you can use Texter. Signatures, addresses, and commonly used abbreviations can be quickly and easily expanded from very small user-defined snippets.

  • Kai

    Lifehacker's Texter requires an extra keystroke, (e.g., Tab after a shortcut), but it does this anywhere on your PC, not just in Word: http://lifehacker.com/238306/lifehacker-code-te...

  • Ivan Walsh

    Thanks for the tip, Kai.

    heading over there right now.

    Ivan

  • Ivan Walsh

    Unlike software-specific text replacement features, Texter runs in the Windows system tray and works in any application you're typing in. Texter can also set return-to markers for your cursor and insert clipboard contents into your replacement text, in addition to more advanced keyboard macros. Did we mention it's free?

    License: GNU Public License

    What it does: Lets you define text substitution hotstrings that, when triggered, will replace hotstring with a larger piece of text. By entering your most commonly-typed snippets of text into Texter, you can save countless keystrokes in the course of the day.

    One common use example given for applications like Texter is email signatures. For example, you could define a series of hotstrings that would be replaced by different signatures. So something like sig1 will automatically be replaced by your full signature when triggered.
    Basic Use

    As you can see from the video, there are a lot of ways that you can use Texter. Signatures, addresses, and commonly used abbreviations can be quickly and easily expanded from very small user-defined snippets.

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