Friday, September 14, 2007

Migrating AutoCorrect Formatted Text to Office 2007

Entries that have been saved as formatted text are saved in the Normal template, and the process for migrating them across from you old Office software to the new 2007 version is a little more complex.

1. Open any folder in Windows, then click on Tools/Folder options/View (tab).

2. Scroll down the list and check to make sure that you have ticked to box next to ‘Display the full path in the title bar’.

3. Scroll further down the same list and activate the button next to ‘Show Hidden Files’.

4. Do a search on Normal.dot. When it comes up on the search list, copy it and paste it across to your desktop. This is assuming that you have retained your old version of Office on your computer. If not, then at least make sure that you have saved your old Normal.dot template and your MSO<number>.acl files before you remove it.

5. Right-click your mouse and click on Rename, then rename the file you have just pasted onto your desktop as Normal.dotx.

6. Do a search on Normal.dotm. Make a note of it’s path: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates. Application Data will be a faded out, hidden folder but you should be able to see it clearly.

7. Locate the Templates folder as above and remove the existing Normal.dotm template across to your backup folder or disk.

8. Replace it with your renamed Normal.dotx sitting on your desktop.

9: When you open Word 2007, it will rename the file as your new Normal.dotm.

10. This process should be done as soon as you purchase Office 2007. If you delay it, you will start to build up entries in the Normal.dotm template that will be lost when you migrate in your old template. If you know that you don’t, for the present, have that many formatted text entries in your AutoCorrect list, it may be better to stay with the existing Normal template and just rebuild some of your entries.


Jay Freeman’s Template
I put Jay’s AutoCorrect backup template for Office 2007, AutoCorrect.dotm, to the test and found that it worked a treat for me, even though it ran to 127 pages and included formatted entries, pictures, etc. So it’s nice to know that as far as the latest version is concerned, I am now fully back up and running with AutoCorrect and can carry on as usual. It can be downloaded from the following extension: http://jay-freedman.info/

Those Pictures Do Work
One thing that is different about the new AutoCorrect lists occurs when you highlight a picture and go into the AutoCorrect Menu window to give it a code, such as 'mymumpic'. When you select 'Formatted text' there will appear to be nothing in the Replace window. The picture is stored there, however, and will be inserted every time you type the code (plus spacebar of course, which is necessary to trigger each code).

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