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Make X-Bar an AutoCorrect option

Special thanks to Jason Moser for the following suggestion.

So, you think this is a lot of work and you don't want to do it every time or have to worry about copy and paste? Neither do I.

Word has this nifty little feature called "AutoCorrect." It's the thing that fixes some of the more common typographical errors - such as replacing "teh" with "the." Well, you can use it to automate the entering of an X-bar. Just follow these rather easy steps.

  1. Create an X-bar in a blank document using either of the methods on this site.

  2. Select the X-bar symbol as if you were going to copy and paste it somewhere else.

  3. Click on "Tools" and then select "AutoCorrect Options".

  4. If you're not already there, click on the "AutoCorrect" tab. Notice the text boxes in the bottom half of the AutoCorrect window.

    Microsoft Word AutoCorrect dialog window

     
  5. Notice where the arrow is pointing - the "Replace" cell. And if you look to the right, you'll see that the "With" cell already has the X-bar symbol in it. (If you use the field codes option, then this will have the gray background telling you that it's a Field Code.)

  6. In the "Replace" cell, I chose to type "xbar", then I clicked "Add." The window now displays what you see below. If you look through the list of corrections, you'll see that Word is actually replacing "xbar" with "* EMBED Equation.3 ***", i.e., the Microsoft Equation Editor object. (If you use the field codes option, the list will display  "eq \o(X,‾)", i.e. the contents of the Field Code in your current document.)

    Microsoft Word AutoCorrect lists

     
  7. Click on "OK" and you're done.

So, there you have it. Now, whenever I type "xbar" in a Word document, Word will automatically insert the Field Codes for my X-bar symbol. You might choose another combination, but the result will be the same. And, you only have to do this once - ever so much easier than entering the code or having to copy and paste from an existing document.

NOTE:

 If, for some reason, I might need to use "xbar" in a document, Word will AutoCorrect it to be the statistical symbol. To undo this, simply press CTRL+ Z after Word makes the correction. This will undo the automatic correction, and give me "xbar" as a word rather than a symbol.
 
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