Microsoft Word includes an aggressive autocorrect engine called “AutoFormat As You Type.” Its purpose is to actively monitor your keystrokes and instantly convert plain text into formatted elements. For example, if you type two hyphens (–) it turns them into a long em-dash (—). If you type an asterisk (*) followed by a space, it instantly creates an indented bulleted list. It also automatically replaces straight quotation marks with curved “smart quotes.”
While this is helpful for drafting standard letters, it is an absolute catastrophe if you are writing technical documentation, software code, markdown, or legal transcripts where precise punctuation is critical. Smart quotes will completely break programming syntax, and automatic indentations will destroy carefully aligned tables. If you want Microsoft Word to behave like a strict, raw text editor where every character you type remains exactly as you typed it without any invisible formatting interference, you must completely disable the AutoFormat engine.
Disabling AutoFormat via Word Options
You can selectively or completely kill these automatic conversions by digging deep into the Office Proofing settings.
- Open the Microsoft Word desktop application.
- Bypass the Start Screen by clicking Blank document to enter the main editing interface.
- Look at the main menu ribbon at the top of the screen and click on File (in the top-left corner).
- Scroll all the way down the blue sidebar on the left and click on Options (usually the very last item).
- A new Options window will appear. In the left-hand menu, click on Proofing.
- In the main panel, look for the “AutoCorrect options” section at the very top, and click the large button labelled AutoCorrect Options….
- A complex dialogue box will open. You must navigate to the AutoFormat As You Type tab at the top.
- You will be presented with a massive list of checkboxes. To completely kill the engine, uncheck every single box. Pay special attention to unchecking:
- “Straight quotes” with “smart quotes”
- Hyphens (–) with dash (—)
- Automatic bulleted lists
- Automatic numbered lists
- Border lines
- Click the OK button to close the AutoCorrect Options, and then click OK again to close the Word Options window.
The changes take effect immediately. From now on, when you type a straight quotation mark, it will remain a straight quotation mark. When you type an asterisk, it will simply be an asterisk without pulling your text halfway across the page into an indented list. Word is now a safe environment for typing raw code or technical markup.