Both Microsoft Word and LibreOffice include the automatic correction tool Autocorrect, which automatically replaces certain typed sequences of characters with other characters. Autocorrect is language specific so, if you use it, make sure it is correctly configured. Otherwise, you may find yourself unable to enter a correct sequence at all, because the program will unhelpfully change what you type.

Automatic substitution of characters may be a useful option, if set up in accordance with the way you want to work. It can include

  • correction of common typing errors (such as teh to the or abotu to about),
  • automatic suggested completion of long words,
  • expansion of abbreviated forms,
  • substitution of character sequences to access special characters, such as a double hyphen replaced by an em dash or 1/4 replaced by ¼,
  • replacement of unlikely sequences, such as double capital letters at the beginning of a sentence replaced by a single capital letter,
  • automatic formatting of lists.

Back to Tools for Text Production
Back to Content