Word 97—Ease of Use

Automation

Multiple Word AutoCorrect

Word 6.0 pioneered the concept of AutoCorrect. Since then, Microsoft has made great strides in making AutoCorrect recognize common typing mistakes and do the correction for you. They have analyzed thousands of documents to identify common typing mistakes and have incorporated our findings into a new and extensive AutoCorrect list in Word 97. AutoCorrect is more flexible and intelligent, and comes with a 750+ word list of frequently misspelled words. AutoCorrect now catches:

• Grammar mistakes - Common word pairs that are spelled correctly but are grammatically incorrect when used together, are automatically flagged and corrected by AutoCorrect. For example, your a becomes you're a, and their are becomes there are.
• Multiple Word Spelling Errors - Common multiple word spelling errors can now be tracked and replaced making it even easier for you to focus on your content instead of your typing. For example, int he becomes in the, and byt he becomes by the.

In addition, based on feedback from their users, Microsoft has made subtle but important usability improvements in the AutoCorrect interface which make it more natural and efficient. First, you now have one-click access to AutoCorrect. When Word marks a possible spelling flag in your document, right-clicking on the flagged word gives you a context sensitive menu which now includes an AutoCorrect command. Clicking on this command immediately adds the flagged word in your AutoCorrect list and replaces it with its correct spelling. Second, if you select a flagged word and go to the AutoCorrect dialog, not only do we now automatically place the selected word in the Replace column for you, when you exit the dialog, we automatically fix the flagged word as well.

As a computer, I find your faith in technology amusing.