Tip: Automatically Generate and Insert Filler Text in Word 2010

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Sometime you need filler text when you’re working on the layout of a document. It may be for all the text or just for certain spot elements, such as captions.

Word offers an easy way to quickly insert text into a document. You can opt for the classic lorem ipsum in Latin, the popular “quick brown fox” text, or a passage from the Word documentation.

If you want to insert a block of lorem ipsum text, simply type =lorem(X,Y) at the beginning of a new paragraph and hit enter. The X value here lets you specify the number of paragraphs you want to insert and the Y value lets you specify the number of sentences in each paragraph. So, for instance, =lorem(4,3) will insert 4 paragraphs with 3 sentences each.

lorem1.jpg

For the quick brown fox filler text, type =rand.old(X,Y) at the beginning of a new paragraph and hit enter. And for text taken from the Word documentation, type =rand(X,Y) at the beginning of a new paragraph and hit enter. (Note that this command will not insert text if the command is not placed at the beginning of a paragraph—for instance, it can’t follow text in-line. But, as you’ll see in the screenshot, you can use this command in table cells.)

Tip by Matthew Graven, TechNet Tips Editor.

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