Transfer AutoCorrect settings to a new PC
If you create custom AutoCorrect entries to speed up your typing in Microsoft Word as I described on Monday, you might need to move those entries to another PC someday.
Years ago, Dave Rado wrote a Word macro for backing up and restoring the program's AutoCorrect files. It still works for Word 2007--or at least it did on my PC.
First, make sure macros are enabled. In Word 2003, click Tools > Macro > Security > Security Level, and select either of the bottom two options. In Word 2007, click the Office button, choose Word Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Macro Settings, select "Enable all macros (not recommended; potentially dangerous code can run)," and click OK twice.
Make sure macros are enabled in Word before you run the AutoCorrect backup script.
(Credit: Microsoft)With Word's macros enabled, double-click the AutoCorrect.dot file inside the AutoCorrect.zip download. Choose Backup, and when the Save As dialog box opens, select the removable medium or network address you'll use to transfer the settings to the other system.
Run the AutoCorrect.dot macro to back up your settings and restore them on another PC.
(Credit: Dave Rado)Repeat the steps on the second system, but choose Restore rather than Backup when the macro runs, click Yes at the warning, point to the backup file you created, and click Open.
Tomorrow: a free program warns you about potentially dangerous sites just before you click the link.
Dennis O'Reilly has covered PCs and other technologies in print and online since 1985. Along with more than a decade as editor for Ziff-Davis's Computer Select, Dennis edited PC World's award-winning Here's How section for more than seven years. He is a member of the CNET blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET.
