New irritating "feature" in Word

[etcstgo]

When opening the AutoCorrect panel in order to add a new entry, the
focus (i.e., the cursor) is not on the Replace field, as it was in
previous versions of Word. You now have to click or tab into the
Replace field before you can start writing. This effectively adds a
keystroke for no apparent reason. In addition, if previous iterations
of Word got you used to be able to start writing immediately, you will
often find yourself typing into nothingness -until you remember you're
in Word 2008.

Most irritating of all, if you tab out of the With field you're not
returned to the Replace field, as used to be the norm. Instead, you're
taken to the Search Word Preferences field. That wouldn't be too bad,
except it closes the AutoCorrect panel. If you do that before
approving the new entry, you have to reopen the AutoCorrect panel to
finish the operation.

This behavior seems to contradict Apple user interface rules. In
System Preferences, which the Word Preference panel emulates, tabbing
between various fields does not close the active panel, nor should it.

This new "feature" just succeeds in breaking my workflow.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

This new "feature" just succeeds in breaking my workflow.

Please make sure you use Help/Send Feedback to report this. That way it
will get logged and tracked (as opposed to this user-based newsgroup
where it *may* be noticed by someone from MacBU).

 

[etcstgo]

Please make sure you use Help/Send Feedback to report this. That way it
will get logged and tracked (as opposed to this user-based newsgroup
where it *may* be noticed by someone from MacBU).

First I send feedback, then I copy this group.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hello -

I've pretty much confirmed your findings here (Office 12.1, OS X 10.5.0)
with a few differences. Please see the interjections below:

When opening the AutoCorrect panel in order to add a new entry, the
focus (i.e., the cursor) is not on the Replace field, as it was in
previous versions of Word. You now have to click or tab into the
Replace field before you can start writing. This effectively adds a
keystroke for no apparent reason. In addition, if previous iterations
of Word got you used to be able to start writing immediately, you will
often find yourself typing into nothingness -until you remember you're
in Word 2008.

I'm able to repeat this regardless of using the Word> Preferences -
AutoCorrect or Tools> AutoCorrect menu.

Most irritating of all, if you tab out of the With field you're not
returned to the Replace field, as used to be the norm. Instead, you're
taken to the Search Word Preferences field. That wouldn't be too bad,
except it closes the AutoCorrect panel. If you do that before
approving the new entry, you have to reopen the AutoCorrect panel to
finish the operation.

I'm seeing his as well, but the conventional Shift+Tab keystroke to reverse
direction based on the tab order of the dialog works with no problem.

This behavior seems to contradict Apple user interface rules. In
System Preferences, which the Word Preference panel emulates, tabbing
between various fields does not close the active panel, nor should it.

The closing of the AutoCorrect dialog definitely appears to be a bug
contradictory to the API. It's appropriate for tabbing to eventually get you
to the Search field, but it shouldn't take you to a different panel.

I'm afraid I've also done you one better as a result of your insights -
I've found that just *clicking* in the Search field evokes the same behavior
as tabbing into it!... And it isn't just AutoCorrect - *all* preference
panels behave the same if the focus is shifted to the Search field.

This new "feature" just succeeds in breaking my workflow.

It's hard for me to envision a workflow that is that reliant on AutoCorrect,
but I'm certainly not challenging on that point The behavior certainly is
different than what's expected and an aggravating one regardless of how
frequently - or infrequently - it's encountered.

I'll submit it later after I've done some more testing.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[etcstgo]

Hello -

I've pretty much confirmed your findings here (Office 12.1, OS X 10.5.0)
with a few differences. Please see the interjections below:

I'm seeing his as well, but the conventional Shift+Tab keystroke to reverse
direction based on the tab order of the dialog works with no problem.
Right...


I'm afraid I've also done you one better as a result of your insights -

Terrific! This is exciting.

It's hard for me to envision a workflow that is that reliant on AutoCorrect,
but I'm certainly not challenging on that point

Well, I have news for you -the world is wide.

I'm a writer and translator; delivering letter-perfect copy is my
livelihood. As such, I rely heavily on AutoCorrect to not only fix
common typing errors, but also to expand abbreviations into full
phrases. In addition, as you may or may not know, Spanish is built
around accents. Adding an accent to a vowel takes an extra keystroke.
Capitalizing a word not at the start of a sentence also takes an extra
keystroke. Capitalizing and accenting a word that takes both takes two
extra keystrokes.

Because of this, I have entered tens of thousands -perhaps more-
abbreviations as well as accented and capitalized terms into
AutoCorrect. I also use it to automatically translate into either
Spanish or English some common terms I may encounter. So, for example,
if I type achr+ I get American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR),
España turns into Spain, or japan into Japón. This saves me so many
extra keystrokes, at the turn of a year the savings and extra
productivity can probably be measured in days.

My AutoCorrect ACL file is about 2 MB in size. I'll bet mine is
bigger than yours. :-D

The behavior certainly is
different than what's expected and an aggravating one regardless of how
frequently - or infrequently - it's encountered.

Right you are.

 

[etcstgo]

You might want to look into TypeIt4Me -- this allows you to use your
abbreviations in *all* apps, not just Word, and to save different sets
of abbreviations so that the same abbreviation can expand to a different
result depending on the context.

Good suggestion. I gave TypeIt4Me a whirl years ago and didn't find it
particularly appealing, although the application must certainly have
evolved since.

However, as I said, I'm a writer and translator, and as such I spend
90% of my workday in Word. I use Excel and PowerPoint only as they
relate to my work, and AutoCorrect works there too. I have automated
most of my business e-mailing (quotes, reports, billing, etc.) through
FileMaker and thus I'm not in need of automatic correction and/or
expansion there. The rest of my writing is mostly personal e-mailing,
where I don't really have a need for automatic correction and/or
expansion, either.

Good suggestion, though, and certainly valid for a lot of people.

 

[MC]

Good suggestion. I gave TypeIt4Me a whirl years ago and didn't find it
particularly appealing, although the application must certainly have
evolved since.

However, as I said, I'm a writer and translator, and as such I spend
90% of my workday in Word. I use Excel and PowerPoint only as they
relate to my work, and AutoCorrect works there too. I have automated
most of my business e-mailing (quotes, reports, billing, etc.) through
FileMaker and thus I'm not in need of automatic correction and/or
expansion there. The rest of my writing is mostly personal e-mailing,
where I don't really have a need for automatic correction and/or
expansion, either.

Good suggestion, though, and certainly valid for a lot of people.

There's another app that does the same thing -- name escapes me.

TypeIt4Me has indeed evolved. There was a major upgrade for Leopard and
it seems pretty stable -- though I do occasionally get buggy results.
However I think that probably has more to do with my computer than
TypeIt4Me -- it's not an Intel machine and I'm at the lowest speed that
you can run Leopard on.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

My AutoCorrect ACL file is about 2 MB in size. I'll bet mine is
bigger than yours. :-D

Holy moly. That is huge.

Also seeing focus in the wrong place in Tools | AutoCorrect in OS
10.4.11 and Word 12.0.1, just FYI.

And I discovered a fun fact--generally, if you have text selected when
you go to Tools | AutoCorrect, Word will automatically put it in the
With field. But if the text is flagged as misspelled, then Word will
automatically put it in the Replace field. Having text selected doesn't
affect the misplaced focus, though.

Incidentally, I tried all the system-wide apps a while back--at least
TextExpander, TypeIt4Me, SpellCatcher--and found I much preferred the
way AutoCorrect worked. The blue lightning stroke is less distracting
than seeing the entire word flash before my eyes with every correction.

Daiya

 

[etcstgo]

And I discovered a fun fact--generally, if you have text selected when
you go to Tools | AutoCorrect, Word will automatically put it in the
With field.

Correct. That goes back many years, though. As someone who's adding
entries several times a day, it's part of my workflow.

Oops, I shouldn't have said that. I'll bet it's gone in the next
upgrade. :-D :-D

 

[MC]

Holy moly. That is huge.

Also seeing focus in the wrong place in Tools | AutoCorrect in OS
10.4.11 and Word 12.0.1, just FYI.

And I discovered a fun fact--generally, if you have text selected when
you go to Tools | AutoCorrect, Word will automatically put it in the
With field. But if the text is flagged as misspelled, then Word will
automatically put it in the Replace field. Having text selected doesn't
affect the misplaced focus, though.

Incidentally, I tried all the system-wide apps a while back--at least
TextExpander, TypeIt4Me, SpellCatcher--and found I much preferred the
way AutoCorrect worked. The blue lightning stroke is less distracting
than seeing the entire word flash before my eyes with every correction.

That doesn't bother me at all... maybe because I'm a hunt-and-peck
typist and spend more time looking at the keyboard than you do!

Spellcatcher -- that's the other one I was thinking of. A lot of people
like it -- and prefer it to TypeIt4Me -- but I have all my corrections
set up in TypeIt4Me and I've been using it for years... I find it
indispensable. Can't imagine what I'd do without it.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Correct. That goes back many years, though. As someone who's adding
entries several times a day, it's part of my workflow.

That wasn't the new fun part. Word moving it to the Replace field if
it's already flagged as misspelled was the bit that was new to me. Oddly
smart--yet in a way that isn't really all that helpful in practical use.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

That doesn't bother me at all... maybe because I'm a hunt-and-peck
typist and spend more time looking at the keyboard than you do!

Very well could be. I make a lot of mistakes, but I don't look at the
keyboard much.

Spellcatcher -- that's the other one I was thinking of. A lot of people
like it -- and prefer it to TypeIt4Me -- but I have all my corrections
set up in TypeIt4Me and I've been using it for years... I find it
indispensable. Can't imagine what I'd do without it.

Yeah, a personal shorthand app has a very high return on little effort,
but seriously locks you in.

Having just bought FileXaminer, I also came across this one, sounds
intriguing:
http://www.gideonsoftworks.com/snippetmonkey.html

 

[etcstgo]

That wasn't the new fun part. Word moving it to the Replace field if
it's already flagged as misspelled was the bit that was new to me. Oddly
smart--yet in a way that isn't really all that helpful in practical use.

Sorry, you're totally correct; I misread what you wrote. I never would
have guessed, though, as I keep "check spelling as you write" strictly
off.

In my book, as an idea the wavy lines are right up there with the
(late) paper clip assistant, another gem of Microsoft idiosyncrasy.

 

[MC]

In my book, as an idea the wavy lines are right up there with the
(late) paper clip assistant, another gem of Microsoft idiosyncrasy.

I can't stand them either. The whole point of spell checking is that
it's something you don't have to worry about while you're typing.