Autofill and Autocomplete?
QI’m in a tizzy about Autofill, Autocomplete, Autocorrect and Autotext. Could you help me understand the differences? Heather Thorn
ALots of companies and programs use these terms, some in subtly different ways, so it’s actually difficult to give a single, clear answer. For a broad understanding we’ll consider how these terms are used in Microsoft Office, as this is where many people typically encounter them.
Autocorrect, Autotext and Autocomplete are easily the most confusing, not helped by Microsoft over the years having chopped and changed both the names and the locations of these options.
In a modern version of an Office program, such as Word, if you click File followed by Options, then Proofing, you’ll see Autocorrect at the top. Now click the Autocorrect Options button. The options here give a good idea of what the system does. Autocorrect detects and automatically fixes common typing errors. It is triggered when you press space or type a full stop, indicating the end of the word. You can use this box to edit what it looks for, and precisely how it works, such as replacing text as you type (see screenshot).
Autotext used to be part of this same box of options but in recent Office versions you’ll now find it under the Quick Parts button (in the Text section of the ribbon’s Insert tab). It’s similar to Autocorrect but instead offers shortcuts to common phrases you might type, rather than to correct common errors. For example, you could set up Autotext to insert ‘Computeractive’ whenever you type CA, triggered by pressing Enter.
Autotext works hand in hand with Autocomplete. Just to add to the confusion, in some Microsoft programs this is actually labelled as ‘AutoComplete’. So when you type an Autotext shortcut, it is the Autocomplete ‘service’ that actually enters it into your document.
That leaves us with Autofill, which populates a form with previously saved data. A website, for example, might display a form for your address and, if you have the feature enabled in your browser, the Autofill facility will automatically fill in the fields. All the popular browsers include a version of this feature.
What to know the difference between technical terms? Email noproblem@ computeractive.co.uk