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Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word
versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or
later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written
specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Alternative Ways of Creating
Random Text.

Alternative Ways of Creating Random Text

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated January 27, 2017)

Other issues of WordTips discuss the undocumented RAND function in Word and how it
can be used to generate random text. (At the start of a new paragraph, type =rand()
and press Enter. There are other ways to use the command, but those are documented
elsewhere in WordTips.) If you get bored seeing "The quick brown fox jumps over the
lazy dog," you may be wondering if there are alternative ways of generating random
text.

The short answer is no, there isn't, if you are looking for a method as simple as
the RAND function. The most common alternative is to use what is often referred to
as "lorem ipsum" text. This is meaningless, Latin-looking text that is used by
those in the printing and publishing business to simulate real text. The following
is an example:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nullam pulvinar wisi ac
elit. Sed congue pretium nibh. Curabitur felis nulla, tincidunt sed, lacinia ac,
varius ut, tellus. Nullam ac neque ac magna gravida porta. Fusce condimentum odio
ut dolor. Morbi ante ipsum, ultrices vel, hendrerit eu, porta eget, felis. Donec ac
ligula non tellus semper pretium. Morbi purus orci, hendrerit vitae, condimentum
sit amet, suscipit vel, nisl. Nunc nulla erat, cursus id, dapibus sit amet, ornare
sit amet, mauris. Nam eget diam et nisl pharetra tincidunt. Suspendisse vel velit
vitae diam vestibulum tincidunt. Aenean rhoncus pellentesque purus. Nullam volutpat
felis vitae quam. Donec rutrum.

While this may look erudite, it is actually meaningless text. A quick search of the
Internet will locate several places where you can generate lorem ipsum text, but
the site at http://www.lipsum.com is the best I have seen.

If you want more background information on both the RAND function and lorem ipsum
text, refer to the following article at the Word MVP site:

http://wordmvp.com/FAQs/Formatting/DummyText.htm

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word
is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1334) applies
to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for
the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Alternative Ways of
Creating Random Text.

Author Bio
Allen Wyatt
With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit,
Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon
Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about
Allen...

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What is four less than 9?

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2015-07-30 14:53:46
Richard Wright
If you enter this:
=rand.old()

You get this:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

2012-01-31 10:05:48
awyatt
David,

You can only use the "lorem" function in Word 2007 or Word 2010. This particular
article is about earlier versions of Word, where that function won't work. However,
if you click the link at the end of the article to the version for later versions,
you'll see the "lorem" function described there, where it is applicable.

-Allen

2012-01-30 22:53:07
David Ziegler
You can also create random text by using "lorem" in place of "rand":
=lorem()

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