How to turn off AutoFormat features in Word 2002 and in Word 2007

In Word 2002, you can automatically format a document either as you type it or all at the same time. In Word 2007, you can automatically format a document as you type it. The AutoFormat feature to automatically format a document all at the same time is not available in Word 2007.

AutoFormat works in the following ways:

• Word automatically formats items such as headings, bulleted and numbered lists, borders, numbers, and symbols as you type your document. You can control which automatic changes Word makes. In Word 2002, you can turn AutoFormat off completely.
• In Word 2002, you can automatically format selected document text or the whole unformatted document, such as an e-mail message, when you click AutoFormat on the Format menu. You can review, accept, or reject each change.
• By default, the AutoFormat command is not available on the Word 2007 Ribbon. If you want to manually format selected document text or the whole unformatted document in Word 2007, you can use the AutoFormat command.
  
  You can add the AutoFormat command to the Quick Access Toolbar. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Click the Microsoft Office Button
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     , and then click Word Options.
  2. Click Customize.
  3. In the Word Options dialog box, in the Choose commands from list, click All Commands.
  4. In the list of commands in the selected category, click AutoFormat, click Add, and then click OK.
• Word 2002 automatically formats headings and lists in your plain text WordMail messages when you open them. You can easily distinguish the current message from the previous messages in the e-mail stream.

By default, AutoFormat features are "on" the first time that you start Word. You can turn off the options that you do not want.

Turn off "AutoFormat as you type" options

To turn off automatic format options that apply as you type your document, follow these steps, as appropriate for the version of Word that you are running.

Word 2002

1. Start Word.
2. On the Tools menu, click AutoCorrect Options.
3. Click the AutoFormat As You Type tab.
4. Under Replace as you type, Apply as you type, and Automatically as you type, select or clear the check boxes for the options that you want to enable or disable. After you do this, you can format these items manually.
5. Click OK.

Word 2007

1. Start Word.
2. Click the Microsoft Office Button
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   , and then click Word Options.
3. Click Proofing, and then click AutoCorrect Options.
4. On the AutoCorrect tab, click to select or to clear the check boxes for the options that you want to enable or disable. After you do this, you can format these items manually.
5. Click OK two times.

Turn off AutoFormat options

Word 2002

To turn off automatic format options that apply when you click AutoFormat on the Format menu, follow these steps:

1. Start Word.
2. On the Format menu, click AutoFormat.
3. Click Options, and then click the AutoFormat tab.
4. Under Apply, Replace, Preserve, and Always AutoFormat, select or clear the check boxes for the options that you want to enable or disable.
5. Click OK.

Word 2007

To turn off automatic format options that apply when you use the AutoFormat command, follow these steps:

1. Start Word.
2. Click the Microsoft Office Button
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   , and then click Word Options.
3. Click Proofing, and then click AutoCorrect Options.
4. On the AutoFormat As You Type tab, click to select or to clear the check boxes for the options that you want to enable or disable. After you do this, you can format these items manually.
5. Click OK two times.

When you click OK in the AutoFormat dialog box to automatically format your existing Word document, Word uses only the features that you selected to format your document.

Where the AutoFormat options are saved

When you change the AutoFormat and AutoFormat As You Type options, the changes are saved to the Windows registry in the Word Data key.

If the changes that you make to the AutoFormat and AutoFormat As You Type options are not being saved, part of the Windows registry may be damaged. To correct this problem, follow these steps to reset the Data key.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

1. Close Word and all other programs.
2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
3. Locate and then click the following registry key:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Version\Word\Data
   Notes
   • For Word 2002, Version refers to the 10.0 subkey.
   • For Word 2007, Version refers to the 12.0 subkey.
4. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
5. Click Yes when you are prompted to confirm the deletion.
6. Close Registry Editor.
   
   The next time that you start Word, the Word Data key is automatically re-created in the Windows registry.

For more information about AutoFormat features in Word 2002, click Microsoft Word Help on the Help menu, type autoformat in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics returned.

For more information about AutoFormat features in Word 2007, follow these steps:

1. In the Type words to search for box of the Word Help dialog box, type autoformat.
2. Click Search to view the topics returned.