Don't worry -- Word Substitution (aka AutoText) is still with us in BlackBerry 10. It's a bit harder to find now, and honestly, I looked for a while and then wrote it off as being a feature that went to the wind.
Thankfully it turned up and it's still hanging out in the settings waiting for your fancy strings of added words.
Word substitution is a great feature that lets you create auto text entries for common phrases. Use "ilu" for "I love you" or "omw" for "on my way".
You can put in pretty much anything you want. Take a stroll with us after the break and we'll see just how to get up and running with word substitution on BlackBerry 10.
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Tap the Settings icon
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Tap Language and Input
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Scroll down and tap Automated Assistance
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Tap Word Substitution
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Make sure the toggle is set to On. You'll see a bunch of preset phrases already added, but here you can enter your own as you see fit.
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To add a new phrase, tap the Add Shortcut icon on the bottom bar.
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Enter the original word in the box (ilu) then the phrase you want it replaced with (I love you).

Click Save and you're done. Repeat the process for adding as many words as you want.
svennebe Feb 6, 2013 at 4:38 pm
can you still tap twice on space for a point?
elite1 Feb 6, 2013 at 4:44 pm
Assuming you mean to add period at end of sentence, for example.
Yes you can.
kinchitg Feb 6, 2013 at 4:40 pm
Hi Kevin;
Do you have any idea when BlackBerry will launch Skype and WhatsApp.??
elite1 Feb 6, 2013 at 4:47 pm
Hi Adam, this was one of my biggest worries. Very happy to know it's still there, as I am many custom entries.
I've heard there's an issue with multi-line custom entries. i.e. if there's an ENTER in there to go down to next line.
Know what I mean?
oddboy Feb 6, 2013 at 5:18 pm
yeah, seems like ENTER is missing. i used to use "aaa" = my full signature for work... easy to add a nice professional signature.
i can't find a way to get the carriage return in there.
Hypnoboy Feb 6, 2013 at 10:53 pm
Would it work to type out your multi-line signature somewhere else on the phone, COPY it, and then PASTE it in when setting up your Auto-text? That way you wouldn't have to hit Enter.
battery Feb 9, 2013 at 2:43 pm
No, that doesn't work. Sad day.
whiteknight Feb 10, 2013 at 6:49 pm
This is killing me! I certainly hope it's just a bug. Word Substitution (or Autotext) without carriage returns is pretty useless in my opinion. I used it for signatures, my address, etc...
Just Me Feb 19, 2013 at 6:24 pm
Agreed. Word Substitution without carriage returns is the reason my Z10 is being retired today.
gq_stylz_s Feb 6, 2013 at 4:58 pm
This works with most messaging apps, but doesn't seem to work with text messages. Anyone else notice this?
tazman69 Feb 6, 2013 at 5:08 pm
I don't like the sound of that. That is where I almost exclusively use shortcuts.
Mutnat Feb 6, 2013 at 5:36 pm
Go into your hub, and bring up the BlackBerry Hub Settings. Click on Text Messages, and the 3rd option is "Enable Word Substitution" and it's Off by default. Just turn that On and it should work.
Why is it off by default?--I think because they assume you want the short version for character-limited texts. For example, if you had a word substitution for "atm" to "at the moment", you might still want your text messages to say "i'm busy atm" instead of "i'm busy at the moment". I don't agree with it, but I can see why they did that I guess. I turned mine on right away.
Cheers!
gq_stylz_s Feb 6, 2013 at 6:33 pm
Nice catch.. Mine was actually turned on by default, and even with it on, its still not working. Works in everything else... Hmmm, funny..
ruhban Feb 6, 2013 at 7:25 pm
Mine doesn't work anywhere. Any ideas why?
gq_stylz_s Feb 6, 2013 at 7:44 pm
Maybe the above solution applies to all messaging apps. Is your word substitution activated?
ruhban Feb 7, 2013 at 12:10 pm
Yeah I've even turned it off and on again. It's really confusing me.
Ebscer Feb 6, 2013 at 5:09 pm
Glad to see that BlackBerry still has this. This is the secret to half of my typing speed on the BlackBerry...
Xopher Feb 6, 2013 at 6:18 pm
Does it still include standard conversions? like MYVER to get the OS version number, or MYPIN to display the device pin?
ruhban Feb 6, 2013 at 7:20 pm
This is mentioned in the shortcuts but when I tried it on mine it didn't seem to work (I even made sure it was on!).
harpmoon Feb 6, 2013 at 9:04 pm
The funny thing is it works on mine to the point where I see 'Pin:....' and then my PIN where the dots are on my spacebar, so it backfills when I hit space next. Could just be the build. I know PIN messaging can't be replied to or forwarded, just received in the launch build but it's coming in 10.1 or 10.2 in terms of support for replying, forwarding and composing.
DUDEBUD Feb 6, 2013 at 8:04 pm
no go for me either, its turned on everywhere but wont seem to work. anybody have some tips?
GLITCH??
moegrand Feb 6, 2013 at 8:59 pm
Wish they would have kept the full set from the past. Ie. Wel=we'll. Guess I'll enter them
kenzzie Feb 6, 2013 at 10:01 pm
Doesn't seem as full featured as before. I can't find a way to get the carriage return in there for multi-line entries. I've even tried copy-paste to try and trick it, but it doesn't recognize the carriage return as a valid character and just takes it out.
K
TTune Feb 10, 2013 at 11:10 am
There seems to be no way, currently, to import all my word substitutions from BB7 to BB10 during the transfer process (using Link). Has anyone else run into this at all?
Is there any workaround to import a large number of substitution pairs (about 20 that I don't want to type in again).
Thanks, all.
--Bill
Just Me Feb 18, 2013 at 3:11 am
Same question. Do I have to type all my word substations out again or is there a way to import them from BB6 or BB7?
Rootbrian Feb 12, 2013 at 12:02 am
I use autotext when it's only needed.
compaqdeskpr Apr 10, 2013 at 8:42 am
Blackberry please bring Carriage return back to word subsititution. I need it so badly!