Auto Correct/Smart Button

[DC Berk]

Can anyone tell me how to turn off that annoying little smarty pants button
and blue underline that appears under every auto-corrected word?

I use auto-correct to speed up writing by entering all sorts of abbreviations
for commonly used words, and I really don't need any help from this button,
thank you very much. Having it constantly flash on screen if my cursor
crosses anywhere nearby is a visual distraction.

I turned off the "Smart" Paste Options button in Preferences, but don't see
any similar option for the Auto Correct button.

If anyone knows how to disable it, please let me know.

DC

 

[Barry Wainwright]

Can anyone tell me how to turn off that annoying little smarty pants button
and blue underline that appears under every auto-corrected word?

I use auto-correct to speed up writing by entering all sorts of abbreviations
for commonly used words, and I really don't need any help from this button,
thank you very much. Having it constantly flash on screen if my cursor
crosses anywhere nearby is a visual distraction.

I turned off the "Smart" Paste Options button in Preferences, but don't see
any similar option for the Auto Correct button.

If anyone knows how to disable it, please let me know.

DC

Sorry DC, there doesn't appear to be a way to turn that one off - must be an
oversight.

 

[Paul Berkowitz]

Sorry DC, there doesn't appear to be a way to turn that one off - must be an
oversight.

Actually, it is possible to turn it off. But note that if you do, there is
NO WAY TO TURM IT ON AGAIN. Next time one shows choose "Stop automatically
correcting "whatever". Eventually you'll have covered most of the cases that
come up on a regular basis.

Other wise all you have to do is ignore it and keep typing. After only one
more key press, the underline should disappear on its own.



--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Actually, it is possible to turn it off. But note that if you do, there is
NO WAY TO TURM IT ON AGAIN.

Well, not entirely true, Paul <g>. Choosing the stop correcting removes
the autocorrect from the autocorrect list. So either you have an
autocorrect with a blue line, or you don't have an autocorrect. You
can't have your cake and eat it too.

If I type "hte" and autocorrect changes it to "the", I can use the smart
button to choose "Stop automatically correcting 'hte'". Poof, 'hte' is
no longer in the Autocorrect list. If I decide I want to undo that, I
just re-enter the 'hte/the' correction in the autocorrect list.

If I choose a smart button's "Stop Auto-capitalizing first letter of a
sentence", I can check that checkbox in the Autocorrect dialog and the
blue line will return the next time I start a sentence in lower-case.

For that type of autocorrection, at least, I don't see how Office could
restore the settings without going back to the defaults (which could
wipe out your autocorrect list).

I personally don't mind the blue lines and smart buttons too much, but I
suspect it's mostly because I rarely look at the screen when I'm typing,
anyway. I prefer to stare off into space when I'm composing. I'm faster,
too, since I don't spend time backspacing and making corrections, but
leave them to autocorrect and the editing phase. When I do look at the
screen while I type, the delay before the blue line is very distracting
- dragging my eye back away from the direction it should be moving. And
the "smart buttons" always seem to pop up right in the way of text I
need to cut or copy...

MS should have included an option to turn the feature off.

 

[DC Berk]

-----Original Message-----


Well, not entirely true, Paul <g>. Choosing the stop correcting removes
the autocorrect from the autocorrect list. So either you have an
autocorrect with a blue line, or you don't have an autocorrect. You
can't have your cake and eat it too.

If I type "hte" and autocorrect changes it to "the", I can use the smart
button to choose "Stop automatically correcting 'hte'". Poof, 'hte' is
no longer in the Autocorrect list. If I decide I want to undo that, I
just re-enter the 'hte/the' correction in the autocorrect list.

If I choose a smart button's "Stop Auto-capitalizing first letter of a
sentence", I can check that checkbox in the Autocorrect dialog and the
blue line will return the next time I start a sentence in lower-case.

For that type of autocorrection, at least, I don't see how Office could
restore the settings without going back to the defaults (which could
wipe out your autocorrect list).

I personally don't mind the blue lines and smart buttons too much, but I
suspect it's mostly because I rarely look at the screen when I'm typing,
anyway. I prefer to stare off into space when I'm composing. I'm faster,
too, since I don't spend time backspacing and making corrections, but
leave them to autocorrect and the editing phase. When I do look at the
screen while I type, the delay before the blue line is very distracting
- dragging my eye back away from the direction it should be moving. And
the "smart buttons" always seem to pop up right in the way of text I
need to cut or copy...

MS should have included an option to turn the feature off.
.

 

[DC Berk]

-----Original Message-----

.

 

[DC Berk]

Sorry about sending an empty reply.

Well, what can I say. Sigh. I've used Word for years, and I am still amazed at
how often they think they know best about how I should work.

It is odd they didn't allow this to be turned off, because you can turn off
"smart paste"

I entered an entire technical vocabulary into AutoCorrect. I type fast, and
can just zip along and there is almost nothing left for spell check to do.

As you said, the problem comes with cut and paste -- and because so many
words in my docs have been auto-corrected, the dumb buttons are popping
up right and left!

I feel like I am being weaned -- I am constantly paranoid about corrupting a
template, never use numbering (which I sorely need), and now I can't use
Auto-Correct! If it weren't for the navigation pane or Outline view, I'd give
up. I miss FrameMaker -- old and clunky, but rock solid.

DCB

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Well, what can I say. Sigh. I've used Word for years, and I am still
amazed at how often they think they know best about how I should
work.

Guess I don't see it that way, quite. Having met a substantial number of
MacBU's Office dev team (there aren't that many of them), I can't
imagine them taking themselves that seriously. They do, as anyone would,
get enthusiastic about new features, and they work hard to implement
them within the rats nest of code that is Office. They also have
constraints: tight resources, and at least an implicit limit on how far
they deviate from WinOffice on existing features.

They also eagerly anticipate release of new versions, because they want
to see how people use their stuff. They know that some of their new
features are a bit rough around the edges, like Notebook View and the
Project Center, but they look for feedback on them (partly by reading
these groups) with an eye toward improving them.

So while I have a whole raft of things that *I* think need to be
changed/improved (Project Center, for instance, has completely changed
my workflow in ways that I wouldn't have anticipated, but there is *so*
much more that could be done!), I tend to cut them some slack on
assuming their intent.

It is odd they didn't allow this to be turned off, because you can
turn off "smart paste"

I agree, it seems a pretty large oversight.

However, discussions like this will undoubtedly have added a bit of
priority to doing so for the next version...

 

[matt neuburg]

It is odd they didn't allow this to be turned off, because you can turn off
"smart paste"

Yes - I think we can all agree with this. There are a number of new
"features" to which they have failed to provide access thru preferences.

I miss FrameMaker -- old and clunky, but rock solid

I don't miss it; I use it! Works great in Classic under Mac OS X. m.

 

[Jeffrey Weston [MSFT]]

Hey DC,

I'm personally reading this newsgroup, and this particular issue is one I've
heard before, and passed it on.

Your posts and comments to the Newsgroup do help these issues get addressed
in future releases.

Thanks for the feedback!

Jeffrey Weston
Mac Word Test
Macintosh Business Unit
Microsoft

 

[DC Berk]

In response:

first, to JE and Jeffrey: Sorry to ruffle feathers about Word's limitations, but
I'm pleased to know that the design team is reading forums like this for
feedback and hope my complaint contributes to some small improvement.

I think the most frustrating thing about Word is that it is potentially such a
great program, and its limitations are so annoying!!! It isn't like it doeesn't
do something at all (which is the case with many other programs), but that it
tries to do something terrific and mucks it up. If it is all that bloated code
everyone keeps mentioning they need to go at it with a machete! Every now
and then I check on Nisus and Mellel, and they are definitely nipping at
Word's heels -- perhaps some genuine competition would mean the team
developing Word for Mac would get the time, resources, and mandate it
needs.

And to Matt: I kept going with FrameMaker for OS9 for awhile, but finally
gave up because I really rely on the Word Navigation pane (I'm working on
big documents). Even if you just consider FM as a word processor, it is
remarkable that old code can support such a solid program, while a
constantly upgraded program like Word can wind up with so many
eccentricities.

And, as you know, Classic is no longer included on Macs and since FM was
the last app I used, I just gave up on both at the same time. I was really
upset Adobe dropped FM for Mac, and am reluctant to pay for the Windows
version + VirtualPC -- maybe if Adobe gave me a good discount to switch,
I'd consider it. I have InDesign and InCopy, and even though the combo isn't
nearly as good, yet, at least it is under development, and InDesign is fun to
work with -- much more fluid and intuitive.

DC

 

[JE McGimpsey]

first, to JE and Jeffrey: Sorry to ruffle feathers about Word's
limitations, but I'm pleased to know that the design team is reading
forums like this for feedback and hope my complaint contributes to
some small improvement.

Sorry I gave you the impression my feathers were out of place - I didn't
feel "ruffled" about your comment, and I *am* a frequent MS basher.

However, I also have met a lot of the folks at MacBU (for developing,
engineering, maintaining, testing and marketing of all of MacOffice,
they're a small shop, less than 200 people, which IIRC, makes them
smaller than the WinWord team alone), and so, while I generally detest
the MS Evil Empire, and smile inwardly every time a Windows security
hole is discovered, I've found that I quite like that group of (mostly)
kids. I also find that they're usually quite responsive to suggestions
when it doesn't come with a diatribe (not that yours was).

But I suspect they're also rather tired of having their various
incompetencies assumed to be intentional... The only reasons I can think
of, with my limited imagination, that account for their not
understanding that a substantial number of users would want a way to
turn off the blue line of distraction and its idiot savant button are
(a) arrogance, or (b) true faith in the universal appeal of their
feature. Where your interpretation leaned toward arrogance, my
interpretation leans toward hopeful oversight.

OTOH, you may be right, I don't know.

I had another, ulterior, motive, of course. Since you bothered to post
back, I was hoping to engage you further, and invite you to keep reading
and posting to these groups. We can use all the help we can get from
knowledgeable and articulate posters.

 

[Bill Weylock]

Couldn¹t resist chiming in to agree with every word.

I¹ve already gone on to read the encouraging responses from MVPs MSFTs and
general good people, so I¹m not trying to argue the points again.

I just want to say that I¹ve been using MacWord since (omigod) Word 3
(possible? - 1987) and have defended it over the years many times. It is
indispensable and still pretty well manageable for me. I also depend totally
on the outline view and do massive cutting and pasting between transcripts
and long reports, using QK macros to change styles and apply punctuation and
captions. Blue lines I can edit out visually, the way I learned to edit
sirens out aurally when I lived in NY. Those infuriation icons are creatures
of the devil.

Assuming that a write would wish to stop writing, go to a mouse, navigate to
a cute little icon, and select from an array of options while in the middle
of a sentence is ... Adjectives fail me. Wrong will do.

I¹m sure people who don¹t type fast and others may appreciate them for some
reason. For my money they are intrusive gimmicks.

Please give us a routine to get rid of them, MS? I¹d accept a foot pedal
that zapped them each time. At least I could keep typing without having to
clear the boogers to see what¹s behind.

I feel better now. Thanks.

Don¹t get me started on corrupting templates. Please.


Best,


- Bill

Sorry about sending an empty reply.

Well, what can I say. Sigh. I've used Word for years, and I am still amazed at
how often they think they know best about how I should work.

It is odd they didn't allow this to be turned off, because you can turn off
"smart paste"

I entered an entire technical vocabulary into AutoCorrect. I type fast, and
can just zip along and there is almost nothing left for spell check to do.

As you said, the problem comes with cut and paste -- and because so many
words in my docs have been auto-corrected, the dumb buttons are popping
up right and left!

I feel like I am being weaned -- I am constantly paranoid about corrupting a
template, never use numbering (which I sorely need), and now I can't use
Auto-Correct! If it weren't for the navigation pane or Outline view, I'd give
up. I miss FrameMaker -- old and clunky, but rock solid.

DCB

Panther 10.3.6
Office 2004
Windows XP Pro SP2
Office 2003

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Assuming that a write would wish to stop writing, go to a mouse, navigate to

a cute little icon, and select from an array of options while in the middle
of a sentence is ... Adjectives fail me. Wrong will do.

I¹m sure people who don¹t type fast and others may appreciate them for some
reason. For my money they are intrusive gimmicks.

While I think the preference to turn it off should be available, in fact
your interpretation is not quite correct. The AutoCorrect smart button lets
you go back and change it after the fact, not in the middle of writing. I
type so fast that cmd-z for Undo is not available to me until *after* I have
realized that "op" changed to opinion when I wanted it to denote OP for
original poster, and it's too late to use cmd-z because I have already typed
the next word. That is exactly what it's designed for, and it works for
that. If you keep on typing (as I do) it vanishes, so it doesn't interfere
with what you see.

But definitely count me as another vote to have a pref to turn that smart
button off. I've learned to ignore it but it's annoying.

Daiya