Making AutoText entries available to the Outlook email editor

[Jennifer Murphy]

I am reading through Charles Kenyon's Automated Boilerplate paper:



http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide...utocorrect.htm

It looks like AutoText will serve my needs better than AutoCorrect, which is what I have been using. But is there a way to make the AutoText entries available to the Outlook email editor?

[gmayor]

You could add the autotext command from the all commands group to the QAT (Quick Access Toolbar) but frankly the autocorrect, with which you are already familiar, is capable of inserting everything I can think of that autotext can enter and with fewer keystrokes.

[Charles Kenyon]

My article was written for Word rather than Outlook. Although I use Outlook for my email, I have a much more rudimentary understanding of its workings than with Word.

I agree that generally AutoCorrect will work better for Outlook than AutoText. What is it that you are trying to insert? If it requires specific formatting, AutoText might be more appropriate.

For AutoText you would want the entries stored in the template used by Outlook (NormalEmail.dotm). I would add them within Outlook rather than through Word. Alt+F3 can be used for this.

00 deleteme 1.png

Thank you for your question. I learned something new today.
I've updated the article to reflect this.

[Jennifer Murphy]

Originally Posted by gmayor

You could add the autotext command from the all commands group to the QAT (Quick Access Toolbar) but frankly the autocorrect, with which you are already familiar, is capable of inserting everything I can think of that autotext can enter and with fewer keystrokes.

I have been happy with AutoCorrect and (for the most part) it is available in Word and Outlook. I've had a few problems with an entry being available in one place and not the other, but I can't remember which way works and which does not. I just add it twice.

But yesterday, I ran up against 2 restrictions: (1) the 255 character limit and (2) the lack of formatting. That's why I was exploring AutoText, which, as I understand it, removes both of those restrictions. But I was just getting started when I didn't see any comment about it being available in Outlook.

[Jennifer Murphy]

Originally Posted by Charles Kenyon

My article was written for Word rather than Outlook. Although I use Outlook for my email, I have a much more rudimentary understanding of its workings than with Word.

I agree that generally AutoCorrect will work better for Outlook than AutoText. What is it that you are trying to insert? If it requires specific formatting, AutoText might be more appropriate.

I'd like to be able to use formatting, but this is not a hard requirement. The primary requirement is for more than 255 characters.

For AutoText you would want the entries stored in the template used by Outlook (NormalEmail.dotm). I would add them within Outlook rather than through Word. Alt+F3 can be used for this.

So is there no way for me to enter them once and have them available to both Word and Outlook? I hate having to maintain the same list is two places.

Thank you for your question. I learned something new today.
I've updated the article to reflect this.

What was it that you learned?

[Jennifer Murphy]

While I was testing some of the things in the article, I noticed that Alt+F3 suddenly stopped working. The Alt key still works and other function keys still work including Shift+F3 to change the case.

What could I have done to disable Alt+F3. (sigh)

[Jennifer Murphy]

The Alt+F3 combo is working again. I swear I am not hallucinating.

[Charles Kenyon]

I learned that AutoText is available in Outlook and that it is stored in the NormalEmail.dotm template. I also learned that Textboxes can be stored there.-

In order to only store them in one place, you could add your NormalEmail.dotm as an Add-In. There it would be available under the list provided when you press Alt+F3. AutoComplete is not available for AutoText in an Add-In in Word until Word 2013, you need to use the F3 key to complete the insertion. I do not know what happens in Outlook because I never used Outlook 2007.

[Charles Kenyon]

Look into Greg Maxey's utility to assist in maintaining building blocks.
Building Blocks & AutoText