Hi Ellis. Happy New Year!
I purchased your software tonite (Open Office). I was formally a Microsoft User.
Welcome to OpenOffice. OpenOffice.org is a free program, so what you were actually paying for was the convenience of receiving the program on a CD rather than having to download it yourself.
And we (the other subscribers to this mailing list) are OpenOffice users like yourself.
With Microsoft I could highlight a word, a phrase, a sentence, a signature, etc., that I used frequently and auto format the same so that I did not have to type it in its entirety when I needed it. I would simply began to type that particular item and the highlighted auot formatted item would appear. I would then press enter and the remainder of the item would type automatically. I have been trying to accomplish the same results with your software unsuccessfully. I have done what I use to do with Microsft and I have use your help instructions and this feature has not worked for me.
OpenOffice is not identical in every way to Microsoft Office. It has some features Microsoft lacks, and vice versa. Some of its features are similar to Microsoft's features, but don't work in the same way. And that is the case here.
OpenOffice has two features that are similar to what you are trying to do. I am sure you will be able to work out a satisfactory solution, but it will not be exactly the same as what you used to do with Word. Here are the features:
1. Word completion. OpenOffice learns the words you type frequently, and offers them as suggestions as you type. Word completion only works with single words (not phrases), and words are added automatically as you type. You may find this feature useful, but it will not work for phrases and sentences as you are used to. This feature is turned on by default. If you find it annoying, you can turn it off at Tools / AutoCorrect / Word Completion.
2. AutoCorrect Replace. Here you can type in an abbreviation for a word, phrase or sentence, and OpenOffice will automatically expand it for you. This is probably the best option for what you want to do. For example, if you are in the habit of typing "Happy New Year" very often, you could highlight those words, select Tools / AutoCorrect from the menu, and type in something like "hny" into the "Replace" box, then click "New" then OK. From then on, every time you type hny, it will be expanded to "Happy New Year".
I hope all of this helps. Please email the list if you have any further questions.
Adrian -- Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
