This element specifies whether the content of a given WordprocessingML document should automatically be hyphenated by the hosting application before it is displayed, if the application supports this functionality.

If this element is omitted, then hyphenation shall not automatically be performed by application displaying this document.

[Example: Consider the images below illustrating a paragraph of text in a WordprocessingML document:

If the content in this document shall automatically be hyphenated when it is displayed, that requirement would be specified using the following WordprocessingML in the document settings:

<w:autoHyphenation w:val="true" />

The resulting output might look like the following (depending on the application's hyphenation algorithm and the hyphenation zone setting (§2.15.1.53):

The autoHypehenation element has its val attribute equal to true, the document is automatically hyphenated and the word sample, beginning at the end of the second line, is hyphenated automatically and thus carried over onto the third line. Conversely, when the autoHypehnation element has its val attribute equal to off, the entire word sample is carried over to the third line as it was not hyphenated automatically and could not fit onto the second line. end example]