How to kill off Autocorrect, AutoComplete, AutoText, AutoFormat

[andrew of sydney]

The version of Office I am running is: MS Office Standard Edition 2003
(11.6568.6568) SP2; my computer runs Win XP Pro SP2. It's a laptop (HP compaq
nx6125), 1.7GHz AMD processor with 1GB RAM.

My problem is I don't like AutoCorrect, AutoText, or any of the auto-
commands under Tools>Options>Autocorrect. I slavishly untick all the boxes
and find that when I restart my PC the next day, I have to do it all again.
For some reason the changes are not going into Normal.dot ...

I read some posts on another forum, and tried a workaround designed for
people who have Acrobat 7 installed (I have Acrobat 5, but thought I'd try it
anyway): open Normal.dot, make the autocorrect changes, and make a change in
the normal.dot like add and delete a space, and press 'SAVE ALL'.

This seemed to work: I shut down and restarted four or five times, and the
changes stuck.

But the next day when I booted up, I found all those little ticks were back
-- autocorrect somehow turned itself back on!

I am running basic Office software, FrameMaker, and Acrobat Distiller, but
can't think of what might be interfering with Word.

I am desperate for help here, please send me any suggestions you have!

Thanks!

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Andrew

I don't think those settings are saved in normal.dot. I think they're saved
in the registry. So if the settings aren't sticking, try deleting the Word
Data key (but back it up before you do, in case things go wrong -- mucking
around with the registry is not for the faint-hearted!).

For more details, see

What exactly does the Data Key in the Registry store?

http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/DataKeySettings.htm



Hope this helps.


Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

 

[andrew of sydney]

Thanks for this, I worked it all out. Goodness I feel so stupid.

When you pointed out that autocorrect options are stored in the registry,
not in normal.dot (only the edited autocorrect language changes/replaces are
kept in normal) .... that reminded me that one of my clean up programs (a
third party application) cleans the registry.

I tested disabling the clean up app. and what do you know? It all works fine.

The application is called CCleaner (www.ccleaner.com), it is very good for
deleting unwanted entries etc, but in this case it was too good.

Thanks so much! Much appreciated!
Andrew

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi Andrew

Thanks for letting us know. Next time someone has the same problem, that
might help.

Shauna of Melbourne

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word