Save Time and Increase Productivity With Microsoft Office’s Auto Text Feature
Work smarter, not harder
Whether you’re a Microsoft fan or not, Microsoft Office is the most popular productivity suite in the world. In fact, it’s hard to find a business that’s not using it. But the fact remains that most users utilize only a fraction of the full power of any of the programs Microsoft Office contains, such as Word and Outlook.
In our travels, we frequently come across employees hard at work, creating large Word documents. Inevitably, we’ll see people with multiple files opened, performing copy and paste operations as they feverishly borrow passages to include in newly created documents. Day after day, how much time do you think is wasted doing this?
Most people do not know about Microsoft’s Auto Text feature, designed to save and reuse text, paragraphs, and passages with just a few clicks. If you’re not using this feature, then you are working harder than you should and in the process, wasting time.
How to set up Auto Text in MS Word 2013
The Auto Text feature is hidden in the Insert menu on the ribbon. To access it, go to: Insert⇒ Quick Parts (in the text section) ⇒ Auto Text. A better way is to add Auto Text to your Quick Access Toolbar. Here’s how:
Go to:
- File
- Options
- Quick Access Toolbar ⇒ Choose All Commands from the drop down list
- Select Auto Text ⇒ click Add >>
- Click OK
The Auto Text button is added to your Quick Access tool bar.
Using Auto Text in MS Word 2013
Using Auto Text is super easy. Let’s say you’re an attorney and you frequently use a Professional Services Indemnity Clause in your contracts, such as:
“Consultant shall defend, indemnify and hold the County, its officers, officials, employees and volunteers harmless from any and all claims, injuries, damages, losses or suits including attorney fees, arising out of or resulting from the acts, errors or omissions of the Consultant in performance of this Agreement, except for injuries and damages caused by the sole negligence of the County.”
To save this passage for future use, simply:
- Highlight the passage
- Select the Auto Text button on your Quick access tool bar
- Click “Save Selection To Auto Text Gallery”
- Fill out the “Create New Building Block” pop up form
- Click OK
To insert this passage into any MS Word document, click the Auto Text button on your Quick Access tool bar, find the passage from the list, and click it. MS Word will insert it into your document at the cursor. You may now edit it if needed to fit the situation.
Auto Text is also available in Outlook 2013:
- Open a new email
- Enter the text that you frequently use
- Highlight the text you just entered
- Go to the Insert Menu
- Click Quick Parts (in the text section of the Ribbon)
- Click “Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery“
- Complete the “Create New Building Block” form
- Click OK
By using this little known feature, you can stop wasting time searching other files for frequently used text. This feature will boost your productivity, especially if you deal with contracts, forms, vendors, and clients.
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