Create a List of Abbreviations in MS Word for Mac | Proofed

In this video I provide a walkthrough for creating a list of abbreviations using MS Word and MS Excel for Mac in combination.

For specific Windows MS Word Instructions check our guide on the Proofed blog:

We post these videos every week, focusing on different fundamentals of writing, communication, and content creation. Helping you to unlock your best work.

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Timestamps:
00:00 - Create a List of Abbreviations in MS Word
00:33 - 1. Find and Highlight all Abbreviations/Acronyms/Initialisms
00:43 - 2. Type [A-Z, 0-9]{2,} into "Find what"
00:56 - 3. Use Wildcards and Highlight "Main Document"
01:16 - 4. Open MS Excel and Remove Duplicates
01:40 - 5. Correct any Errors
02:07 - 6. Define each Abbreviation
02:21 - Resources

3 Resources For You:

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[glesias]

This is exactly what I was looking for, no nonsense and straight to the point, thank you, this will be the first of many videos I will watch to help me write my thesis!!! Thank you !!!!

[mar_chak]

It didn't work for me. Do my Microsoft settings have to be in english for this to work ? (I m using french settings) (i ve tried many codes i found on youtube none of them worked)

[fadygergis]

I have a question;
How can I select/copy numbers in/within text boxes in Word and copy it in Excel file.
thank you so much

[BeyondAfricaPodcast]

I am following the procedure but it selects acronyms in the footnotes instead of the main document though I select the main document under the highlight section.

[ynke]

Thank you for this tutorial. It seems very useful and I wanted to apply it for my dissertation. However, when I follow the steps, and get to clicking Find in >> Main document, I get a pop-up stating: "The Find What contains a Pattern Match expression which is not valid". I work on word, Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. Would you know how to resolve this?

[demondragon]

Thanks for the walkthrough!
This is definitely faster than scanning the document manually but it's still quite a process.
There are free tools that do this automatically for you, like the list of acronyms maker at listofacronyms.

It also picks up the full terminology when the acronym has been defined in the document.

[engh]

I copy the code but doesn't work in word 2010 it give the message: contains a pattern expression which is not valid Match ?!!

[joaod.carvalho]

Very good video, thank you! Perhaps it would be nice if you said ";" may be used instead of ", " in European countries, as I had that problem myself. Keep up the great work!

[NorahAAH]

I tried to use it but my file always freezes and I need to shut it down. I use Windows 10 and the latest version of word. my file is 60 pages long. Can you help?

[xuesongwang]

Nice tutorial! thanks, however, I'm a windows user and it seems like I can't just copy the highlighted text. Any solutions?