How to import Word 2003 Autotext to Word 2010

This is one of the issues that keeps cropping up every time the user has his computer replaced. Many of those users would to some extent use the Autotext feature of Microsoft Word 2003. There are many post about the procedure involved, but must of them felt like too much trouble for nothing. After some search and more trial and error, i found the steps below to bring the best results with least effort.

First of all, Microsoft Word 2010 comes with a long list built in Building Blocks. In some cases this could be confusing for the users of the product. For all the users i tend to remove the built in Building blocks to keep the list shorter. There are 2 locations to look at, the first one being the “shared” Building Blocks, that will be copied to every user’s AppData folder. To start with open the following folder:

Windows XP: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\Document Parts\1033\14

Windox 7 (32bit): C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\Document Parts\1033\14

Windows 7 (64bit): C:\Program Files (X86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\Document Parts\1033\14

Delete the “Built-In Building Blocks.docx” file.

Next delete the “Built-In Building Blocks.docx” file from the user’s folder. To open the folder, click Start -> Run and type in %AppData%\Microsoft\Document Building Blocks\1033\14 and delete the file from this folder as well.

Last but not least cope the Normal.dot file from the old computer to the folder %AppData%\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP and rename the file to Building Blocks. Next time Microsoft Word is opened, this file will be used in the Bulding Blocks tool and the items from the Autotext will be ready for use.

In category: Microsoft Office
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