Excel AutoCorrect

Excel AutoCorrect (Table of Contents)

• AutoCorrect in Excel
• How to use AutoCorrect Options in Excel?

AutoCorrect in Excel

Most of the people are not aware that Excel also has an AutoCorrect feature in Microsoft word. We many times make grammatical mistakes and this may happen when we type and text in excel as well. AutoCorrect feature in Excel allows us to correct the incorrect word or spelling automatically. AutoCorrect feature helps us to avoid making typos (typing mistakes) while the data which may be used for presenting or it can be important to some work.

How to Use?

By using Autocorrect feature we can not only correct misspelled word but it can also be used to change abbreviations to full text or to replace longer phrases with shortcodes. It can also insert check marks, bullets and other special symbols.

Let’s understand the working of AutoCorrect Options in Excel with some examples.

AutoCorrect in Excel – Example #1

For accessing the AutoCorrect feature in Excel, go to File menu. From there, go to Options and select Proofing from Excel Options.

We all have some or few words which we often mistakenly type incorrectly. This is because unintentionally we do not know how to spell or in our subconscious, we already have incorrect spell saved. This can happen to anyone. For this, we check the correct spelling of those words and save it in AutoCorrect dictionary to avoid further mistakes.

Let’s consider a sentence where we have already notices and seen typo as shown below.

As we can see above, here we have incorrectly spelled FURTHER as FUTHER. And this word did not get AutoCorrected which means it is not saved in Excel AutoCorrect dictionary. So for that let’s go to File menu as shown below.

Now from there go to Options.

And select Proofing from Excel Options window as shown below. As we can see, in Proofing there is a feature of AutoCorrect Options and some more inbuilt features related with AutoCorrect below in the same box. Select AutoCorrect Option first.

Once we click on AutoCorrect Options, we will get its box. In that, go to the AutoCorrect tab. Now we can search our word FUTHER in the replace box or we can scroll up and down to see whether our desired word is already been added or not. As that word was not AutoCorrected, so we can add it here. For that, in replace box type word FUTHER and replace it with FURTHER which is the correct word as shown below. After that, click on Add button to add that word in the dictionary.

Once we click on Add, we will see that word is added in the list at the bottom. Now click on OK to exit.

Now let’s test it by typing the same sentence again. As we can see below, we typed FUTHER again and once we add space it automatically gets corrected.

By this, we can add those words in excel dictionary which we often type incorrectly.

For more formatting, from the Excel Options window, we can select more options as shown below.

With the help of the above-mentioned options, we can change the language, verbal type, change the case sensitiveness from Upper to Lower.

AutoFormat As You Type – Example #2

To AutoCorrect in excel, there are some more AutoCorrect features in excel. From AutoCorrect option, along with text and words, we can AutoCorrect the data used from external sources in excel corrected automatically in AutoFormat As You Type tab as shown below. We can format rows, columns to add new one, we can apply the hyperlinks to those paths which can take us to any specific page and even auto filling the formula.

For testing, let’s uncheck with the 1^st option which is Internet and Network path with hyperlinks as shown below and click OK to see if hyperlinks for internet path works or not.

We have entered google web link and no hyperlink is generated for that as shown below.

Now let’s check the 1^st option from AutoCorrect Window again and see if we get hyperlink or not.

As we can see below, we are now getting hyperlinks for website path again.

Autocorrect Actions in Excel – Example #3

The next tab is Action. This is the customize tab for AutoCorrect in Excel. We make any specific changes and add new entries. By clicking on More Actions button as shown in the below screenshot, it will take us to Microsoft support webpage from where we can select any action option if it is available for the version which we are currently using.

Math AutoCorrect in Excel – Example #4

In the tab of AutoCorrect, we have Math AutoCorrect option also. This is the mathematical auto correction where we can add new mathematical characters which we use frequently. So instead of going in the equation we can add and define those characters here as we did for text and words. Let’s add Degree sign. For that in Math AutoCorrect window, enter \deg in replace box and replace that with degree signature °  as shown below. Once we add it, we will get that value at the bottom of the list.

Pros

• By this, we can avoid incorrect work typing mistakes which can hamper our professional skills.
• Frequently used words in which we often make mistakes in typing, can add a plus point in the data output.

Things To Remember

• For regular users, it is very important to fix those words which are typed incorrectly.
• Always check the data before submitting or using somewhere, with all spelling and texts to avoid those conditions where AutoCorrect is working if any word is not added in a dictionary.
• Turn off the AutoCorrect when not required, because, in some situation, we need to keep the words as it is supposed to be added. In that case, AutoCorrect may correct with a different word which is not even required.
• We would recommend not to use Hyperlinks for network and website because it may unnecessarily increase the size and sometimes files may get frozen if there are too many hyperlinks in the worksheet.

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to AutoCorrect in Excel. Here we discussed How to use AutoCorrect Options in Excel along with practical examples and downloadable excel template. You can also go through our other suggested articles –

1. How to use Excel AutoSave?
2. Easy Ways for Auto Numbering in Excel
3. Tutorials on How to use Excel AutoFill
4. Word Count in Excel | Easy Excel Tutorials