Set up custom fraction auto corrections in Word 2004

Nov 09, '06 07:30:06AM

Contributed by: pslambe

Ever typed 1/2 and had Word Autocorrect it to ½? Cool you say! What about 1/4? Or 1/8? It seems Word does not have an auto-correct feature to change these. In endeavouring to come up with a solution to this problem, I found this hint on a Windows site. I struggled to find a way to trigger the Control-F9 action mentioned in that hint, until I realized it was a Windows shortcut for starting the Equation Editor in Word.

So I went to Insert -> Object..., and chose the Microsoft Equation entry to start up the Equation Editor. This brings up a new window with a number of palettes. Click on the second entry in the second row for the fraction options, as seen in the image at left. Choose a fraction style, and then enter 1 and 4 (or whatever fraction you want).

When you close the window, the Equation Editor will insert the nice fraction in the Word document for you. To let auto-correct replace your fraction every time you type it, select the new fraction you have just created and then choose Tools -> AutoCorrect. The fraction will show in the "with" side of the box, so just enter 1/4 (or whatever) into the Replace field. Hey presto -- Word now replaces your typing with a nicely formatted fraction. Obviously this technique could be applied to lots of other things, too.

Caveat: My PowerBook would not open the Equation Editor until I located the font MT Extra in the /Applications -> Microsoft Office 2004 -> Office -> Fonts folder, and copied it into my user's Library -> Fonts folder, where Word could find it.

[robg adds: I didn't have to do any manual font copying, and this works as described on my G5.]

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