Word Hacks [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Hack 76 Use Custom Shortcut Menus to Make Frequent Selections

Use an AUTOTEXTLIST field to create a drop-down
list you can right-click at any spot in a document.

If you regularly choose from a list of words,
such as the names of staff members, you can use an
AUTOTEXTLIST field to insert a drop-down list into
your document, as shown in Figure 8-10.

Figure 8-10. Choosing among entries in an AUTOTEXTLIST field

The following example shows you how to create the list shown in Figure 8-10.

First, create a new, blank document. You'll need a
new paragraph style for grouping your entries. Select
FormatStyles and Formatting (or FormatStyle,
depending on your version of Word), click the New Style button, and
make a new style named Staff, as shown in Figure 8-11. To make this list available in all your
documents, check the "Add to
template" box.

Figure 8-11. Creating a new style for your list

Next, create three blank paragraphs in your document (you should also
select ToolsOptions, click the View tab, and check the
"Paragraph marks" box). Select all
three paragraphs and apply the Staff style.

Now put one name in each paragraph. Select the first name (but
not the paragraph mark just after the name) and
press Alt-F3 to create a new AutoText entry for the selected text, as
shown in Figure 8-12. Click the OK button and repeat
for the other names in the list.

Figure 8-12. Creating the list of entries

Now delete the names from the document. Select a blank paragraph and
apply the Normal style. Next, select InsertField, select
AutoTextList from the list of fields, and click
the Field Codes button. In the "Field
codes" box in the Field dialog, enter the following
text, as shown in Figure 8-13 (Word inserts the
first word for you):

AUTOTEXTLIST "Right-click to choose" \s "Staff"

Figure 8-13. Creating an AUTOTEXTLIST field

Notice that "Staff" is the name of
the custom paragraph style you created. Click the OK button to insert
the field in your document.

Select the field (but not any paragraph mark
that might come right after it) and press Alt-F3 again to create a
new AutoText entry. Enter staff as the name of
the entry and click the OK button. Now whenever you want the list in
a document, type the word staff, and Word will
prompt you with an offer to insert the AutoText entry. After
inserting the AutoText entry, you can right-click the entry to choose
a name, as shown in Figure 8-10.