Where are Autotext Entries Stored?

Topic

New Reply

Am I correct that AutoCorrect are stored in the normal.dot template?
But what about Autotext entries?
m.q.

Reply | Quote

Replies

AutoText entries are stored in the normal.dot.

Reply | Quote

You can add an AutoText entry to any template that is ‘active’. Before you click on the Add button in the Autotext dialogue, select from the box marked ‘Look in:’ the template in which you want to store the AutoText entry. If the Normal template is the only one that is ‘active’, this is all the choice you will have.

Reply | Quote

Are they kept in separate files to the normal.dot?

Thanks,

MusabQ

Reply | Quote

Musab,

No, the AutoText entries are stored inside the Normal.dot file (or another ‘.dot’ file if you store them in a different template).

Effectively, then, you can only access the AutoText entries, to add, delete or modify them, from within the Word application.

Reply | Quote

AutoText is stored in the normal.dot, AutoCorrect entries are stored in an *.acl file which is separate. The only exception to this rule are the entries which create the smiley faces — those are actually stored in normal.dot as well.

Reply | Quote

Autotext entries can be stored in any template. You can copy them from one template to another by using the Organizer.

Reply | Quote

This explains a lot. I sync files between a notebook and desktop, and include in the sync the normal.dot template. I always wondered why it was that my extensive AutoCorrect list wasn’t the same between the two computers, and now I know why.

Is there any trick to copying *.acl files properly, i.e. which directory must they reside in? Further, I notice upon executing a file find on my desktop here that there are two separate *.acl files under my profile, MSO1033.acl and MSO2057, as well as an MSO97.acl file under C:WINDOWS and some under the PROGRAM FILESMICROSOFT OFFICE directory as well. I assume those *.acl files under my profile are the ones I want, but why are there two and what do they mean? TIA,

Reply | Quote

(Edited by Phil Rabichow on 07-May-03 00:07. after I checked the MS website 5/7/03)

There are at least two .acl files because there is one for a default profile & then there can be a file for each profile. You can copy them to comparable folders on a new computer if they are the same version.

Better yet, Microsoft has a Profile Wizard & a Save My Settings Wizard that saves ALL your options & allows you to transfer them to a new machine. The former is saved on your hard drive & the latter is saved on their web site. Note: Alan Miller has brought to my attention (here) that Microsoft has changed it’s procedure. They say: “Previously, this wizard allowed files to be saved to the Office Tools on the Web site on the Internet. This feature was removed due to low usage.” So now you can use the Save My Settings wizard to save to a hard drive or removable media. I’ve only used the “save” feature, I’ve never had to restore (at least not ‘just’ office).

The Save My Settings Wizard is at

http://office.microsoft.com/Downloads/2000/o2ksmsdd.aspx%5B/url%5D

The Profile Wizard is part of the Office 2000 Resource Kit available from the Office Update page. You can download it at http://www.microsoft.com/Office/ORK/2000/A…ox.htm#maintwiz%5B/url%5D. Look on that page for a heading called Office Resource Kit core tool set. The executable is called ORKTools.exe.

NOTE 2: I just checked the Microsoft website again for Save My Settings. It gives these instructions:

>Quit all Microsoft Office programs.
>Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft Office Tools, and then click Save My Settings Wizard.
>In the Save My Settings Wizard, click Next.
>Click Save the settings from this machine, and then click Next.
>Click Save the settings to a File, and then click Finish.
>Note If you want to save the settings to a different file other than the default settings file, either type the path to the file >you want to save, or click Browse.

However, I just compared by savemyi.exe with the one they still have available for download & they’re identical. Mine is dated Monday, July 10, 2000 9:48:15 AM & is version 5.00.2920.0000. The Wizard connects to the internet & doesn’t provide an option to save to an alternate location. But, I notice that the instructions above apply to the Profile Wizard exactly. That has a radio button for “Save the settings from this machine” & “Save the settings to file”. I would use the Profile Wizard.

Hope this helps.

Reply | Quote

Hi Phil:

Does the Profile Wizard or the SaveMySettings utility also work on Windows settings?

Thanks!

Reply | Quote

Hi Kathryn:
Unfortunately, no. It only saves Office settings. I’d post the question on the Windows forum that applies to your operating system.
Cheers,

Reply | Quote

Phil Rabichow’s post was written for Office 2000. In the intervening years, three new versions of Microsoft Office have been released, and procedures have changed.

Here is an overview of the tools available for Office 2000, XP (2002), 2003 and 2007 late in 2007.

For Office 2000: Profile Wizard (separate download)
Description of the Microsoft Office 2000 Profile Wizard (contains a link to download this tool)

For Office XP (2002): Save My Settings Wizard (comes with Office XP)
Description of the Save My Settings Wizard in Office XP
How to use the Save My Settings Wizard to back up user settings in Office XP

For Office 2003: Save My Settings Wizard (comes with Office 2003)
Description and use of the Save My Settings Wizard

For Office 2007, there is no directly comparable tool.
However, if you have Windows Vista, you can use Windows Easy Transfer to transfer files and settings (not just those for Office) from another PC running Windows XP or Windows Vista.

Reply | Quote

Unformatted AutoCorrect entries are stored in separate files and used by many of the other Office programs as well as by Word. Formatted AutoCorrect Entries are stored in Normal.dot.

AutoText entries are stored in templates. By default, they are stored in Normal.dot but they can be in any template. To access an AutoText entry the template must either be the “attached” template or must be loaded as a global template (or be Normal.dot).

My preference is to keep my Autotext in global templates and not in Normal.dot. Sometimes it is kept in the document’s attached template as well.

See the following for information on the location of AutoCorrect entries:
Export AutoCorrect

Note that AutoCorrect entries are dependent on the language setting of the text (as well as of the machine).

For more on AutoText and AutoCorrect, see the links on my (http://www.addbalance.com/word/wordwebresources.htm). Look under AutoText. There are a number of templates that use AutoText entries in different ways on my download page[/url] (http://www.addbalance.com/word/download/).

Reply | Quote

Thanks, Charles for that link to your Word Web Resources site – some good info there!
Cheers,

Reply | Quote