Enable text replacement shortcuts in Word for Mac

Question

Enable text replacement shortcuts in Word for Mac

marygauxlightly 0

macOS Sequoia v. 15.5

Word for Mac v. 16.107.1

Greetings,

I have set up a few text-replacement keyboard shortcuts under (mac) system settings > keyboard > text replacements. For example: &sec > §. These shortcuts work everywhere else save for Word for Mac. Restarting Word did not solve the problem. Does anyone know how to "turn on" this feature or how to create custom text-replacement shortcuts in Word for Mac?

Thanks.

–M

Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 437.7K Reputation points

2026-04-13T20:40:40.63+00:00

Although it has no bearing on the issue of this thread I'm just offering a friendly note that your installation of Sequoia is noticeably behind on updates. Version 15.7.4 is the current release.

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Your answer

Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 437.7K Reputation points

2026-04-13T20:40:40.63+00:00

Although it has no bearing on the issue of this thread I'm just offering a friendly note that your installation of Sequoia is noticeably behind on updates. Version 15.7.4 is the current release.

Answer 1

Aymeric-B 29,600 Independent Advisor

Hello !

System-wide text replacements from macOS do not work in Microsoft Word for Mac. Word uses its own text engine and autocorrect system instead of the native macOS text system. Even if you have text replacements enabled, Word ignores the feature.

You'll need to use the Word AutoCorrect feature : https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/turn-autocorrect-on-or-off-in-word-9f5a0684-05f6-4510-b419-8f0034caefe4

Please let me know if you have any other question !

marygauxlightly 0 Reputation points

2026-04-12T22:21:40.2333333+00:00

@Aymeric-B Thank you so much for your helpful suggestion. Your solution works perfectly!

–M