WD97: How to Disable Word AutoFormat Features (139564)

SUMMARY

The AutoFormat feature in Word works behind the scenes to produce an attractive, easy-to-read document while you concentrate on the content. Word analyzes each paragraph to see how it's used in the document (for example, as a heading or as an item in a numbered list) and then applies an appropriate style for that item. Word also automatically formats Internet, network, and e-mail addresses as hyperlinks; applies bold or underline character formatting to text surrounded by asterisks or underscores; replaces two hyphens with an em dash; and so on.

AutoFormat works in these ways:

Word automatically formats headings, bulleted and numbered lists, borders, numbers, symbols, and so on as you're typing your document. You can control which automatic changes Word makes, or you can turn AutoFormat off completely.
You can automatically format selected document text or the entire unformatted document, such as an e-mail message, in one pass with the AutoFormat command. You will be able to review, accept, or reject each change.
Word automatically formats headings and lists in your plain text WordMail messages when you open them. You can easily distinguish the current message from the previous messages in the e-mail stream.

By default, AutoFormat is "on" the first time you start Word. You can turn off the options that you don't want.

This article describes how to disable (turn off) the AutoFormat features in Microsoft Word 97 for Windows.

For more information about the AutoFormat feature in Word, click Contents And Index on the Help menu, click the Find tab in Microsoft Word Help, type the following text

AutoFormat changes Word makes

and then double-click the "Learn about AutoFormat changes Word makes" topic. If you are unable to find the information you need, ask the Office Assistant.

MORE INFORMATION

To disable (turn off) the AutoFormat features in Word, do one or both of the following.

Disabling "AutoFormat As You Type" Options

To disable certain automatic format features as you type your document, follow these steps:

On the Tools menu, click AutoCorrect.
Click the "AutoFormat As You Type" tab.
Click to clear (remove the check mark from) the settings under the Apply As You Type, Replace As You Type, and Automatically As You Type sections. Clear the check boxes for those settings that you want to format manually.
Click OK.

Disabling AutoFormat Features

To disable certain automatic format features when you click AutoFormat on the Format menu, follow these steps:

On the Format menu, click AutoFormat.
Click Options.
On the AutoFormat tab, click to clear (remove the check mark from) all of the settings under the Apply, Replace, Preserve, and Always AutoFormat sections that you do not want Word to automatically format.
Click OK.

When you click OK in the AutoFormat dialog box to automatically format your existing Word document, Word will use only the features that you have selected to format your document.

For more information the AutoFormat feature in Word, click Contents And Index on the Help menu, click the Index tab in Microsoft Word Help, type the following text

AutoFormat

and then double-click the selected text and go to the "Troubleshoot automatic formatting changes" topic. If you are unable to find the information you need, ask the Office Assistant.