AutoCorrect Options in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac

The AutoCorrect feature in PowerPoint corrects common typos and spelling errors in text within your PowerPoint slides automatically as you type. Have you ever wondered how PowerPoint knows that a particular word is spelled wrong? Does it refer to some resource as a reference? Also do you find some AutoCorrect options such as the capitalization of some words unnecessary? Also, researchers working in different scientific fields actually have to use some words that cannot start with a capital letter, and the first thing they want to do is turn off the automatic capitalization. Yes, it's possible to make AutoCorrect work just the way you want it to—as long as you know where to change these options:

1. Launch PowerPoint 2011 for Mac, and choose PowerPoint | Preferences, as shown in Figure 1.
2. 
   Figure 1: Choose PowerPoint | Preferences
2. This opens the PowerPoint Preferences dialog box. Click the AutoCorrect option shown highlighted in red within Figure 2.
3. 
   Figure 2: AutoCorrect options within the PowerPoint Preferences dialog box
3. Make sure you select the AutoCorrect tab. All the options within this tab are explained below as marked in Figure 2 above. Select them as required:

A. Show AutoCorrect Options Buttons

4. This option controls whether a Smart Tag button appears along with an AutoCorrect action, as shown in Figure 3 below.
5. 
   Figure 3: AutoCorrect Options button
6. Clicking this Smart Tag button brings up a small menu that lets you undo the change, and also provides the Stop Automatically Correcting... option that removes this AutoCorrect entry altogether. Clicking Control AutoCorrect Options, shown in Figure 3 gets you to the AutoCorrect Preferences dialog box shown in Figure 2, above.
Tip: Wondering what an AutoCorrect entry is? We explain this term in our Creating and Editing AutoCorrect Entries in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac tutorial.



B. Correct TWo INitial CApitals

7. If you accidentally hold down the Shift key for a tad longer, and end up typing two capital letters in a row (such as MIcrosoft), PowerPoint auto-corrects this error.

C. Capitalize first letter of sentences

8. Capitalizes first letter of word that occurs at the beginning of a sentence.

D. Capitalize names of days

9. Capitalizes the first letter in day names, such as Sunday, Monday, etc.

E. Replace text as you type

10. You must leave this check-box selected so that the word list of AutoCorrect entries is always referred to, so as to correct text as you type. We explain how you can add, edit, or delete these AutoCorrect entries in our Creating and Editing AutoCorrect Entries in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac tutorial.

F. Exceptions

11. Click this button to open the AutoCorrect Exceptions dialog box, as shown in Figure 4. This dialog box has two tabs: The first tab is called First Letter. Here you can enter a list of capitalization exceptions, such as abbreviations that use periods but aren't at the end of a sentence (for example, approx. and Ave.—also etc.). You can also set up a list of Two Initial Capitals exceptions in INitial CAps, the other tab of this dialog box. Click OK in this dialog box to apply any new exceptions added.
12. 
    Figure 4: AutoCorrect Exceptions dialog box
4. When done, click the OK button to close the PowerPoint Preferences dialog box.