auto text, why won't it work or only works sporadically ...

It's AutoComplete suggestions for dates, and you can't customize them (as far as I know).

The mond to Monday and sept to September are not AutoText but something else. I would suggest posting a new topic on this. It is an issue of tooltips and options, I believe.

I know this is an old thread, but couldn't find an easy way to ask a new question, and wanted a response to this issue specifically.  I have read all the responses, and believe there is an issue here that is otherwise difficult to recreate and trouble shoot.  I am curious if it has anything to do with using a pre-existing template/table/text box.

I have recently been upgraded from Word 2003 to 2010, and to Windows 7.

Much of the work I do involves entering information on a document created by a macro built in Word 2003.  It has a some common elements for each form, and a handful of text boxes to input specific information.

On the first page, auto text will reliably generate the tool tip, allowing me to hit enter and move on.

On the second page, the tool tip is not created, but F3 works for auto texts I created or transferred from Word 2003.

However F3 does not work on things like "mond" changing to Monday.  On the first page I can type "mond", a tool tip appears, I hit enter, it changes to "Monday", I hit space, a tool tip appears, I hit enter, and it populates "September 23, 2013"

The tool tip does not appear on the second page, and F3 does not work.

Likewise, sept turns into September in the same fashion if I am not typing the day of the week first, and a space after September generates a tool tip for today's date; works on the first page, not the second page...

Does this have anything to do with the table/text box creation?  Have others noticed this issue in blank documents, or only in templates or documents with tables?

We had some forms in which the text box did not automatically check spelling.  This is not the case here.  Typing monday on the second page automatically corrects to Monday, and Munday is spelled wrong...

Hopefully this is helpful enough information to identify the intermittence issues

Did you ever use a beta/prerelease version of Word 2007?

I have figured some things out after a lot of experimentation. If you have no other windows maximised (i.e. everything except Word is minimised down), if you have no text in the document after the cursor, if you have recently saved the document and if the whole line is completely visible (i.e. it's not half cut off at the bottom of the screen), then it will work! If your autotext entries aren't suggested, try minimising everything else and save your document. Then it might work - until the next time it mysteriously decides to stop. This IS a bug in Word and it should be fixed by the Microsoft people!

Sorry, I don't concur. The activity you observed may well have to do with where the AutoText is stored on your system. Check for the following behavior.

AutoText must be stored in a template. It can be stored in the normal template; that is the default location for storage.

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On my system at least, minimizing windows or saving the recipient document have nothing to do with whether Tooltips for AutoText entries appear.

How can you possibly not concur? I am describing my experience of the intermittent appearance of autotext tooltips on my own computer. I use Word for six to eight hours every day and I think I have a little bit of experience now (sarcasm). Sometimes the tooltips will appear, sometimes they won't, and I was merely stating a few of the situations in which it would work more often. I am quite aware of how to use autotext and where they should be stored, etc, etc, etc. I must be doing it right otherwise they would not work at all. My problem is that the tooltips appear only intermittently. But you people just want to argue with me!

I am not "people," I am a single person representing no one. I don't work for Microsoft. I am a volunteer user, who is, like you, actually trying to help others. I am not arguing with you.

You gave a report of what seems to be happening on your system and suggested that other people follow a routine of minimizing windows and saving unsaved Word files to change tooltip behavior. I tested your suggestions because I am curious about Word anomalies. I am saying that on my systems this does not change tooltip behavior, that no one else has reported it, and I can't recommend it as a solution. This is called feedback. Perhaps someone else will report that they have been able to change the behavior by following your methods.

I have described situations known to cause tooltips to appear or not in Word 2010. Again, they will not appear under any circumstances in Word 2007. Those changes will appear to be unexplainable to someone who does not know about the different places to save AutoText. They are predictable and reproducible. That does not mean it isn't a poor design. I preferred the way it operated in Word 2003 and earlier, too.