Word 2016 - automatically highlight list of words

Copper Contributor

Hello, everyone,

 

I would like to get rid of the following questions:

In Word 2016, is it possible to store a list of words, which are then automatically color-coded by Word? Functionality would be similar to the search/replace function, but fully automatic (after the corresponding list has been defined). Is this a programming question?

 

Application example for illustration:

For example, if you have a German text and have it translated into English, there are a number of translation alternatives for individual words (Umsatz could be translated with revenue, sales or turnover, for example). With a manual glossary, the translation can be checked to see if the correct term has been used. With the help of the above-mentioned marking function, used in the German (original) text, the translator would already be visually informed that he needs to check the glossary. This would greatly simplify the process, especially with long glossaries (short glossaries could indeed use the proven Ctrl+F functionality on a manual basis).

 

Any thoughts?

 

Many thanks in advance!

The questioner

2 Replies

The "automatic" part of this request could be accomplished -- only for text you will type later -- by creating a formatted AutoCorrect entry for each word. For this example, you could type Umsatz in a document, color it red and leave it selected, go to File > Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options, type Umsatz in the Replace box, click the Formatted option button, and click OK. Now, when you type Umsatz in any other place and press the spacebar, it will be replaced by the red version.

 

However, this won't work for existing text, because AutoCorrect is triggered only by typing a space or punctuation after the entry's "name". To work with that situation, you need a macro that iterates through a list of words (perhaps in a text file or an Excel worksheet) and does a Replace All to change the color of each occurrence in the current document. You can get an add-in that does this from https://gregmaxey.com/word_tip_pages/vba_find_and_replace.html.

Not exactly what you want, but it might help you.

Use the multi-hightlight extension in Chrome and if you use Word Online editor it will highlight your content like so.