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How do I resolve conflicting AutoCorrect entries?

Anonymous
2024-02-07T18:22:23+00:00

I use AutoCorrect, mostly in Outlook & Word, as shortcuts for long words or phrases I commonly type. As I work for a theatre company, I also type a lot of titles which I like to italicize. So I create an autocorrect of *j to give me "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in italics in three keystrokes.

However, I'm frequently getting issues where the shortcut is bringing up an incorrect entry. (It's possible that these are shortcuts that I used before and redefined, which may be a symptom of the additional files I mention below.)

In general, these shortcuts will work across Office apps (Word, Excel, Outlook), but not consistently. Usually the ones that don't work across the apps have formatting (italics) associated.

I recently moved to a new computer and followed the instruction to move my AutoCorrect files over: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/moving-autocorrect-from-one-computer-to-another/31d6d06b-6a37-4ec1-a48b-a9c952f944c2

When I did this, I noticed that there were 14 acl files. I moved them all.

The problem of incorrect entry or missing shortcuts did occasionally occur on my previous machine, but it seems to have been exacerbated in last few weeks. Now I'm getting the issue every few days.

Today, I compared my Word & Outlook lists and they were different. Lots of the same, but many different.

I have considered deleting all my shortcuts and starting again, but with well over 100, I'd love to find a way to resolve the conflicts and stop getting the incorrect entry glitch.

Should there be mulitple acl files? Can I merge them into one? Is this my issue?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For education | Windows

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  1. Suzanne S Barnhill 278K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-02-08T02:13:06+00:00

    Formatted entries (such as those in italics) are stored in the Normal template. Unformatted entries are saved in .acl files by language. If you have some AutoCorrect entries stored as, say, "English (United States)" and some as "English (United Kingdom)" (or any other language), they'll be available only when the text at the insertion point is formatted with that language. The numbers in the .acl filenames correspond to the language codes. They should be used across all Office apps, but it is conceivable that you might have different ones for Word and Outlook.

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  2. Charles Kenyon 167.6K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2024-02-22T19:08:14+00:00

    Thanks for the information and the link to the Freedman macro.

    Unfortunately, my sysadmin has blocked the macros in this document, so that won't work.

    However, the link to Suzanne's article was extremely helpful.

    You are welcome.

    Re: Jay's utility.

    Talk to your sysadmin to try to get an exception for this. It is a very valuable utility and has been in circulation for more than 20 years.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-02-22T18:23:07+00:00

    Thanks for the information and the link to the Freedman macro.

    Unfortunately, my sysadmin has blocked the macros in this document, so that won't work.

    However, the link to Suzanne's article was extremely helpful.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-02-22T18:13:22+00:00

    Thanks so much for the reply. This is much clearer for me.

    I also appreciated your article that Charles suggested.

    Mark

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  5. Charles Kenyon 167.6K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2024-02-08T03:46:06+00:00

    Suzanne was correct in everything she told you. I am writing to add some elaboration/additional information.

    The .acl files are the ones that work outside of Word and Outlook (but also inside them). The separate files are for different proofing language settings in effect when the entries were created. They only work when the same proofing language is in effect when you try to use them.

    Formatted AutoCorrect entries created in Word are stored in the Normal.dotm file.

    Formatted AutoCorrect entries created in Outlook are stored in the NormalEmail.dotm file.

    Those are both stored in your User Templates Folder.

    Where is the Normal Template / How to Find the Normal Template

    I strongly recommend that you check out Jay Freedman's AutoCorrect2007 utility.

    You can download it from his page. The Macro Zone - Jay Freedman, MVP

    It is free.

    You can create a Word document that contains all of the AutoCorrect entries on your system, regardless of whether they are formatted or unformatted and regardless of the proofing language setting. It puts them in a Word table.

    That document can be used with the utility to restore them at a later time or to move them to a different computer.

    It notes whether or not they are formatted or unformatted. It applies the correct language to the result in the table so that when they are restored, they go to the correct .acl file if unformatted. I do not know if his utility captures formattedi AC entries in the NormalEmail.dotm file.

    I also urge you to look at Suzanne's page: Exploiting AutoCorrect by Suzanne Barnhill, MVP to help you avoid confusion in the future.

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