When I click 'replace', I can type ^#/^#/^#^# into the "find what" bar, and then click 'format -- highlight' to highlight all dates in the document with this format, which is great. However, I would really like to be able to do this permanently so that it highlights the dates as I type and I don't have to manually do it at the end.

When I go into AutoCorrect Options, it lets me replace specific words with highlighted versions of those same words--good--but it does not recognize ^#/^#/^#^# as a format. It takes it literally and only replaces those literal characters with a highlight. It doesn't do dates.

I tried the Math AutoCorrect, and same deal. Does not recognize ^#/^#/^#^# as a format.

Can anyone help me with this? Why would Replace recognize this as a format, but AutoCorrect not recognize it? It seems inconsistent and I feel like there must be a way to do this.