How Turn Off Automatic Formatting in Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word takes care of a lot of formatting for you by default. It will automatically fix two capital letters at the beginning of sentences, create a numbered list whenever you start a line with a number, create automatic bulleted lists, change the size of some of your fractions, and more.

This is one of the questions that I get most from people: "How do I make Word stop doing that? How do I get it to stop changing things without me telling it to?"

Most of these "helper" features are found under Word Options in the AutoCorrect Options window. From there, you'll want to uncheck those features that you don't want from the AutoFormat tab, the AutoFormat As You Type tab and the AutoCorrect tab. It also might not hurt to take a gander through your Replace Text as you Type list as well, to see if there are entries that you find more annoying than helpful.

Quick Guide: To Turn Off Automatic Formatting in Word

1. Click the File tab on the Ribbon.
2. Click Options in the left pane.
3. Click Proofing in the category pane.
4. Click the AutoCorrect Options button. 
   
   
   
   
5. Click the AutoFormat tab, and uncheck the check boxes next to any features you don't want.
6. Next, click the AutoFormat As You Type tab and uncheck the check boxes next to any features you don't want.
7. Lastly, click the AutoCorrect tab and uncheck the check boxes next to any features you don't want. If there are any items in the Replace text as you type list that you no longer use or need, select the item and click Delete.
8. Click OK when finished.