Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

FrecklePaw
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Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by FrecklePaw »

Help! My autocorrects and autotexts have disappeared :O
What has happened and how can I get them back?

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HansV
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by HansV »

They are stored in different places:
  • Plain text AutoCorrect entries are stored in a file with extension .acl in the folder C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office. For British English, it is named MSO2057.acl.
  • Formatted AutoCorrect entries are stored in your default template Normal.dotm in the folder C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates.
  • AutoText entries could also be stored in Normal.dotm, but in recent versions of Office, they are usually stored in a template named Building Blocks.dotx. For British English, it is stored in the folder C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Document Building Blocks\2057\16
The AppData folder is hidden by default; if you don't see it, you can type %appdata% in the address bar of File Explorer and press Enter to go to the C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming folder.

See if you can find those files. Are they missing? If not, do they have a very recent modification date? Hopefully, you have backup copies.

You can also try the following: right-click one of these files, or if they're missing, right-click the folder where it should have been.
Select Properties from the context menu.
Activate the Previous Versions tab of the Properties dialog.
See if it populates with older versions (this might take a few seconds, but not very long).
Best wishes,
Hans

FrecklePaw
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by FrecklePaw »

Nope, there's nothing in there and no backups :(
I noticed when I switched on yesterday that my blank Word docs were in Calibri instead of Arial and were in different line spacing.
It'll take me a while to create everything again from scratch now :(

Why has this happened and how can I stop it happening again?

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HansV
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by HansV »

Do you mean that there is no Normal.dotm template in the Templates folder? That is very strange...

Once you have everything set up the way you want, create copies of the files named in my previous reply in another location, so that you can restore them if it happens again (but let's hope it doesn't!)
Best wishes,
Hans

FrecklePaw
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by FrecklePaw »

Yep, it says Windows can't find C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates
Why do you think this has happened?

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Charles Kenyon
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by Charles Kenyon »

You need your name in <username>.

Try typing in the address bar:
%appdata%

How to find the Normal template
http://addbalance.com/word/normaltemplate.htm#Find

Data Storage Locations in Ribbon Versions of Word
http://www.msofficeforums.com/word/1367 ... tions.html

FrecklePaw
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by FrecklePaw »

Oh dear! :) I've replaced it with my username now!! :)
It has found the Normal template but I don't see any other stuff really, so it's safe to say it's all gone. Why does this happen though? (Apart from the fact I haven't backed it up!)

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HansV
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by HansV »

I'm afraid it's impossible for us to know why it happened...
Best wishes,
Hans

FrecklePaw
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by FrecklePaw »

Can it be from the computer doing updates?

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HansV
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by HansV »

That is very unlikely. You didn't create a new user profile, did you?
Best wishes,
Hans

FrecklePaw
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by FrecklePaw »

No

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HansV
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by HansV »

We may never know what caused this... :sad:
Best wishes,
Hans

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StuartR
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by StuartR »

Did you run any maintenance tools, such as ccleaner or similar?
StuartR


FrecklePaw
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by FrecklePaw »

No

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Charles Kenyon
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by Charles Kenyon »

Looking forward: Backups!
Normal template: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mso ... bf9b4f7b5f
AutoCorrect2007: http://jay-freedman.info/

FrecklePaw
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by FrecklePaw »

Definitely backups from now on!
Still adding them back in as we speak!
Thanks everyone, and apologies!

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Charles Kenyon
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by Charles Kenyon »

You can use Jay's utility to somewhat automate the process. It creates a Word document that you can edit and add in the AutoCorrect entries you want. Then run the Restore and it will create those entries for you.

FrecklePaw
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by FrecklePaw »

That sounds amazing, thanks for the link I'll take a look :)

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Charles Kenyon
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Re: Autocorrects / autotexts have disappeared

Post by Charles Kenyon »

You are welcome.