Autotype is a function in some computer applications or programs, typically those containing forms, which fills in a field once you have typed in the first few letters.
Autotype can also refer to automatically determining a peripheral's configuration or a program's variables.
Autotype is defined as a "true representation of the original" (see O.E.D).
The term may also apply to the Autotype Company, founded in London in 1868 as the "Autotype Fine Art Company", which was one of the pioneers in the carbon print and autotype reproduction process and which still exists as a supplier of coated films.
[1] Autotype is now part of the Platform Speciality Products group of companies.