How to Use Word’s AutoText Feature to Improve Efficiency

As I do things around the home, I often think of ways that I can be more efficient. I want to make only one trip to the basement, so I try to accomplish several things when I am there. We live about 12 miles from town. I want to make fewer trips to town and plan to combine errands while there. I think about the errands I need to do and consider an efficient way to travel around town, keeping in mind the flow of traffic. Am I the only one who thinks this way?

That reminds me of a way to be more efficient when writing. If you use the same phrase or sentence repeatedly in your writing, you can utilize a feature in Word called AutoText to improve your efficiency. This feature allows you to program into Word the phrases or sentences that you often use. When you are writing, you can access them with just a few clicks of the keyboard. Word will add what you have programmed. This saves you time! Below, I will briefly explain how to use this feature.

1. Select the text you want to repeat.
2. Press Alt + F3.
3. A dialog box will open. Assign a name in the first blank (at least 4 letters), then click ok. This stores the selection you made and its assigned name.
4. When you start to type the name you assigned, a small box will appear. If you want to use the text you assigned, click enter, and it will be automatically inserted. If not, just keep on typing.

This method has been very helpful! I use this feature to quickly insert previously saved text, saving me a little time on one item which adds up when used multiple times.

What are ways you have found to save time? I’d love to hear about them.