There’s a solution built into every modern word processor: Auto-Correct. Back in the day, auto-correct was something that non-typists fell in love with. Its purpose was to catch, and automatically correct, common typos (like “hte” for “the”) or misspellings (“acommodate” for “accommodate”). No sooner have you hit the space bar than the typo or misspelling corrects itself. Wonderful! But with a little imagination you can get a lot more mileage out of this feature than simply saving yourself from embarrassing mistakes (and not all of those, either, because it won’t fix “their” when you should have said “they’re” or “then” when it should have been “than”).

Here’s how the Auto-Correct dialog looks in Word:

You’ll find this one by looking under “Options” (from the Tools menu in Office 2003 and earlier, and in the hidden stuff under the Office logo in Office 2007). Find the Proofing tools and look for AutoCorrect.

It’s all in the way the feature works. The word processor (Microsoft Office Word, for example) watches the words you type, and when it sees a “word,” like “adn” that is listed in its auto-correct list, the program immediately substitutes what the list says is the correct one. Any combination of letters in the “Replace” column can be replaced with its corresponding entry in the “With” column.

If your company is “Acme Widget and Automation, Inc.” you can type “awa” in the “Replace” box and the full company name in the “with” box, then click OK. From now on, any time you need to type the company name, just type “awa.” As soon as you press the space bar, those nonsense letters turn into Acme Widget and Automation, Inc.

This works for people’s names, product names, or even (as you see in the screenshot) for substituting an actual copyright symbol © for the typed (c).

Best of all, you only have to get the spelling right once. After that, it will always, automatically, be correct.

As is always the case with prerelease software, it’s not recommended for your main office computer if you rely on these applications for your daily work, but my experience so far has been that Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint are stable and useful as they are. You may not be able to run them side by side with older versions, though, so best to install them on a computer that won’t cause mayhem to your business if it goes down or you can’t get a spreadsheet to open on it.

The Ribbon, introduced in Office 2007 to the chagrin of many experienced Office users, is much less annoying. There is a File tab instead of an enigmatic Office logo, so saving files and printing them is more intuitive, and the new “back office” lets you see and adjust your printing and page setup all in one place.

If you have a spare machine to test on and you’re a somewhat experienced Office user, I recommend downloading the beta and giving it a test run. Eventually, Microsoft will stop supporting the earlier versions, so it’s as well to anticipate the fact and get familiar with the newer ones that will be all you can buy before too long.

The new wallpapers include some brilliantly fantastical drawings that fall into a kind of “Dr. Seuss meets Cirque du Soleil” category that appeals to my whimsical side, but the fact that they can be set to change automatically every so many minutes is also a big plus. It just makes things easier on the eye, and less tiring not to have the same image staring at you all day.

If you’re thinking about it, jump in. Tell them Alan sent you…

Actually, it’s kind of fun. It won’t really tell you anything about what 2010 will do differently, but there are various screen shots about the net and a more typical Microsoft introduction (in other words, very corporate and bland, but informative if the boredom doesn’t get you first) to the upcoming version at their website. You do get to actually see what things will look like, though.

Another way this site is typical is that it shows how to glitz up your documents (in some fairly horrible ways, sadly) but nothing about how to make a good looking document, pick the right font or set your margins or line spacing. If you’re a Creative Tips reader, you know about my campaign to bring business documents to a new level of good looks by providing the design tips that office software companies leave out of their tutorials.

It will be interesting to see how many people take to this. I’m not a believer yet, myself, although there are times when working with clients that I create online versions of documents so that different people can have access to comment and make changes or updates. I’m not convinced that the web is secure enough, nor that connections are generally speedy enough, for so-called “cloud computing” to become the norm. Documents are like young kids: I just feel more comfortable when I know where they are.

I’ve written about Flow, the application that transforms the way we work with creative software. It was a blast testing, suggesting improvements, and watching the program evolve from its original concept to the mature product that it became when it went on sale last week. Even if you don’t work in the graphic arts, I am sure you’ll hear more mention of Flow. It will become as ubiquitous as Photoshop, no question.

For more information about Gridiron Flow, watch the Overview video and browse their website.

Current versions don’t support these features at all, which seriously limits how far you can go in creating professional-looking typeset copy with Word or Microsoft Office Publisher. That’s why a book or a brochure produced using Word or Publisher never quite looks right. There’s a subtle amateurishness that isn’t the fault of the author; it’s built into the way the program handles type. That’s why this may be Really Good News for business and professional users who are willing to invest some time learning what these features are and how to turn them on. Apparently they will all be off by default, and it remains to be seen how well the new features will be implemented.

For those who don’t know, OpenType is the current standard for computer typefaces. Unlike earlier computer fonts, the same OpenType fonts work equally well on a Mac, Windows or Linux system. Almost all of the fonts that ship with the Mac, Windows or Office today are OpenType, so that people can send a document to a colleague or client without worrying about what type of computer he or she is using.

But OpenType goes a long way beyond mere compatibility. Whereas older font technology was very limited in the number of different character shapes (known as “glyphs”) that could coexist in a single font file, an OpenType font can contain multiple language alphabets and a huge assortment of numbers, fractions, special decorative (“swash”) versions of capital letters, and more. OpenType fonts can automatically adjust type in subtle ways that make it more readable and more professional… IF it’s being handled by a program such as Adobe InDesign that understands these features. The simple bottom line is that right now you can’t get to any of these extra characters or features with an OpenType-oblivious program like Word or Publisher. That’s why this is all potentially exciting news for consultants, engineers, doctors and other non-design professionals who nevertheless need to look professional in print.

If you’re not a video editor or graphics professional, don’t assume Flow isn’t for you. Anyone who works with Microsoft Office files, creating documents, writing copy, or putting together PowerPoint presentations could potentially benefit greatly. There are some excellent intro and how-to videos here.

Breaking News: As of June 30, Flow is now shipping.

For those of us in the graphics, video, editing or writing fields, Flow is set to transform the way we work. Its maps show how all the various files in a project relate to one another, its real-time tracking keeps tabs on new versions and warns if you’re about to move or delete something that is part of some other project, it adds an entirely new dimension to searching for assets on a large computer system, and it keeps track (automatically, silently but continuously) of the exact amount of time spent on each file in a project. If you bill by the hour, or if you are tired of losing your shirt underbidding creative projects or spending tedious amounts on time with timesheets, Flow handles all of that with aplomb, and will create a report you can bring into Excel, Filemaker, Word or any similar program. (For the technically inclined, it’s in CSV — comma separated values — format.)

I predict that those of us who work with industrial-grade design software are going to take to Flow with enthusiasm.