When writing a scientific paper or a report it is usual to italicise the scientific names of organisms. The word file 'autocorrect.doc' that can be downloaded here contains a macro that loads a text file of species names into the Microsoft Word Autocorrect list so that when a scientific name is typed that is in the file it is automatically converted to italics. Another advantage is that a name will not be italicised if it is not in the file. This often indicates that one has made an error in typing the name.
To use the program you first need to make a text file of the latin names you wish to recognise one name per line of the file. The names should not have leading or trailing spaces. In our case we have a file that contains latin names of all the plants recorded in the Channel Islands. An example file is included in the zip file downloaded above.
Next open the word file 'autocorrect.doc' in Microsoft Word. This file contains a macro so the security level for running macros on your system must be set to Medium or Low. (Tools-Macros-Security). Remember to reset the Security to its previous level after running the macro. When you open this Microsoft Word file a toolbar should show with one button, "Add latin names to Autotext". Click on this button and a file dialog box will open. Navigate to your text file of latin names and open it. The latin names from the file will all be loaded into the autotext entries and also written to the screen.
If there is an error in the file of names (a trailing space, or too long an entry, for example) you can determine which entry is causing the trouble by seeing where on the screen the program has stopped. This will be the entry in the file of names after the first name showing at the top of the screen. Correct the entry in the file of names and run the program again.
We hope you find this useful. It saves us a lot of time.
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