IF YOU NORMALLY regard Microsoft Word as little more than a digital typewriter, you are not taking advantage of the word processor's timesaving features. Sure, it's easy to lose track of Office's seemingly endless abilities and just concentrate on churning out text. I know I do. But one simple feature in Word-AutoCorrect-can regularly save you some time, making you a faster typist and helping you get more done over the long haul.

Similar to T9 texting on mobile phones, AutoCorrect expands your shorthand to produce common words or phrases. Start by identifying things that you commonly enter in your line of work, and then add those terms to Word's preferences.

For instance, I'm always typing tech terms, so I save a few keyboard strokes by having AutoCorrect expand "nb" to "netbook" or "dt" to "desktop." As an example, I'll show how to turn "pcw" into "Techfuels."

Within Word, click the Office button in the upper left, and pick Word Options. Choose Protifing, and click AutoCorrectOptions. Now, in the AutoCorrect tab, enter your shorthand in the Replace box and the full term in the With box-pew in the former and PC World in the latter, in this case. Click Add.

Leave the other settings as they are, and simply add more terms that you typically type. Click OK. Now, whenever you type pew and press the spacebar, Word expands it into "Techfuels." Neat.