how can I automatically build an acronym list in a word document?

[Dave B]

I have a 40 page document that is loaded with acronyms. I want to build an
Appendix A that will list the acronyms and meanings. Is there an easy way to
do this without typing all of them in? Is there a way to select the acronym
in the document and have it automatically copied to the acronym list?

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Dave,

This works in Word 2003, but I'm not sure whether earlier versions have the
necessary function.

Open the Edit > Find dialog and click the More button. Check the box for
"Wildcards" and the box for "Highlight all items found in". (The highlight
box may not be available in your version.)

In the Find What box, type the expression

[A-Z]{3,}

Then click the Find All button. This will select all the words in the
document that are three or more upper-case letters. Close the dialog. Copy
the selected words to the clipboard. Move the cursor to the appendix and
paste. Each word will automatically be placed in a separate paragraph.

If you want to include acronyms that start with a letter but may also
contain numbers, use this expression instead:

[A-Z][A-Z0-9]{2,}


--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
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