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How do I turn off automatic formatting in Microsoft Word?

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Word seems to auto format 1/2 and 1/4 but not 1/8 or 1/16. How can I get it to do these other fractions as well? It looks really retarded to have 1/4 as a fraction but 1/8 not.

Help?

Posted by: Francesco at November 12, 2005 7:20 PM

That's because there are special characters for 1/2 and 1/4, but not for 1/8 or 1/16. There is nothing to auto replace with.

Posted by: Leo at November 13, 2005 8:01 PM

Using MS Word 2003 on a Windows XP machine - I paste from a HTML document in a browser into a blank word document. There is Auto numbering that takes place. THese numbers/letters did not exist in the original document. Butr some letters and numbers did exist. Word is treating "CArriage control line feeds" (enter button presses) as new numbers and letters. I don't want these extras. Also I hit the enter key in a few spots and it still nuimbers/letters. I have the "as you type auto correct" turned off and everything. I can't believe that I cannot turn off this "feature" and I'm a programmer!

Is this a problem because I've pasted from HTML?

Please help as this is absolutely killing me.

Reubin

Posted by: Reubin at December 30, 2005 6:41 AM

I have "Capitalize First Letter of Sentences" under AutoCorrect options deselected in Microsoft Word, yet it still capitalizes first letter of each sentence automatically.

Yes, I've restarted, rebooted, etc. It's been happening for months. Any suggestions?

Posted by: Todd at January 6, 2006 7:30 AM

Hi.

On Nov. 12, 2005, Francesco wanted to know how to get auto format to turn fractions such as 1/8 or 1/16 into the "auto formatted" version of 1/2 or 1/4.

You responded that this was a problem with "special characters."

My problem is that I DON'T want 1/2 or 1/4 to become the "auto formatted" fractions because I place the Word files into Pagemaker Files and the auto formatted fractions sometimes turn into oddball characters. I just need 1/2 to look like I typed it.

Is there any way to "get rid of" those "special characters" that create the autoformatted fractions? I use the standard Times and Times New Roman fonts.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Posted by: Dawn at January 6, 2006 2:44 PM

Tools->AutoCorrect->AutoFormat as you Type -> uncheck "Fractions with fraction character"

Posted by: Leo at January 7, 2006 8:38 PM

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, I'm using Word v. X for Mac and "Fractions with fraction character" doesn't appear under the "Autoformat as you type" heading.

Is there anything else I can do?

Posted by: Dawn at January 9, 2006 7:01 AM

I have exactly the same problem (see below)! Word 2003 and Windows XP. This is driving me crazy. Do you have any ideas?

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[ I have "Capitalize First Letter of Sentences" under AutoCorrect options deselected in Microsoft Word, yet it still capitalizes first letter of each sentence automatically. ]

Posted by: David at February 10, 2006 1:01 AM

Leo - I am using Word 2004 v11.2 on a Mac. I have read your article; I have read all of the Microsoft Help articles; I have every auto-formatting option turned off... AND MICROSOFT WORD KEEPS ON AUTO-FORMATTING MY DOCUMENTS!!
It is especially evident when I am cutting and pasting.
I don't want it! It's driving me crazy, and slowing down my work considerably. I can't believe I'm the only one with this problem.
Is this a major bug in Word 2004?
Please help!

Posted by: Rick at March 7, 2006 8:06 AM

When I receive (from someone else) a Word file that has fraction characters in it, the fraction displays on my screen as an underscore. Is there something that I can do to get it to display correctly in Word? If I cut-n-paste the text into Mail, the fraction displays correctly. I'm running Word X for Mac Service Release 1, on MacOS 10.4.5. Thanks!

Posted by: Karen at March 29, 2006 9:24 PM
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