Actions make it easier for you to complete common tasks from within your Office documents. For example, you might want to send an email message to a contact from your address book who is mentioned by name in a Word document. You can use an action to do that.
Tip: Actions were known as "Smart Tags" in versions of Office prior to Office 2010.
Choose the actions you want to use
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To activate an action, on the File tab, click Options, and then click Proofing.
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At the top of the Options box, click AutoCorrect Options, and click the Actions tab.
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If you haven't already, check the Enable additional actions in the right-click menu box.
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Under Available Actions, put a check mark next to each action you want your Office document to recognize, and then click OK.
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To activate an action, on the File tab, click Options, and then click Mail.
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At the top of the Options dialog box, click Editor Options.
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In the Editor Options dialog box, click AutoCorrect Options.
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Click the Actions tab in the AutoCorrect dialog box.
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If you haven't already, check the Enable additional actions in the right-click menu box.
Use actions as you work
As you work in your document, you can right-click the segment or value that serves as a trigger for the action. For example, as illustrated below, you can right-click an instance of .5 inch, point to Additional Actions, and a pop-up list of measurement options appears so you convert the measure to metric units.
Available actions
The following are actions that are built in to Office 2010 and newer versions:
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Address (English): Support for Smart Tags in earlier versions of Office prior to Office 2010 only.
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Date (XML): Allows you to schedule a meeting or see the contents of your Outlook calendar on a given date.
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Financial Symbol (XML): Allows you to see information about a stock symbol.
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Instant Messaging Contacts (English): Allows you to send an instant message to someone from within your Office document.
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Measurement Converter: If your document originated in another country, you can insert this action to help you convert inches to centimeters on the fly.
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Person Name (English): Allows you to see the Outlook contact information associated with a name.
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Place (XML): Support for Smart Tags in earlier versions of Office prior to Office 2010 only.
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Telephone Number (XML): Support for Smart Tags in earlier versions of Office prior to Office 2010 only.
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Time (XML): Support for Smart Tags in earlier versions of Office prior to Office 2010 only.