diff --git a/zaaReloaded2/Importer/ZaaImporter/AutoDetect.cs b/zaaReloaded2/Importer/ZaaImporter/AutoDetect.cs
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..ac9a129
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zaaReloaded2/Importer/ZaaImporter/AutoDetect.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+using Microsoft.Office.Interop.Word;
+/* AutoDetect.cs
+ * part of zaaReloaded2
+ * 
+ * Copyright 2015 Daniel Kraus
+ * 
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Linq;
+using System.Text;
+
+namespace zaaReloaded2.Importer.ZaaImporter
+{
+    static class AutoDetect
+    {
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Attempts to automatically detect laboratory data in the Word
+        /// document.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="document">Document which to parse for laboratory
+        /// data.</param>
+        /// <returns>True if laboratory data was detected, false if not.</returns>
+        /// <exception cref="ArgumentNullException">if <paramref name="document"/>
+        /// is null.</exception>
+        public static bool Detect(Document document)
+        {
+            if (document == null)
+            {
+                throw new ArgumentNullException(
+                    "Automatic laboratory detection requires a document.");
+            }
+
+            // TODO: Try to make this algorithm more elegant.
+            Paragraph start = null;
+            Paragraph end = null;
+            int i = 1;
+            while (i <= document.Paragraphs.Count)
+            {
+                if (IsLabParagraph(document.Paragraphs[i]))
+                {
+                    start = document.Paragraphs[i];
+                    break;
+                }
+                i++;
+            }
+
+            if (start != null)
+            {
+                end = start;
+                while (i <= document.Paragraphs.Count - 1)
+                {
+                    if (!IsLabParagraph(document.Paragraphs[i+1]))
+                    {
+                        end = document.Paragraphs[i];
+                        break;
+                    }
+                    i++;
+                }
+
+                document.Range(start.Range.Start, end.Range.End).Select();
+                return true;
+            }
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Returns true if a paragraph is either a time stamp line
+        /// or a paragraph with laboratory items.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="paragraph"></param>
+        /// <returns></returns>
+        private static bool IsLabParagraph(Paragraph paragraph)
+        {
+            string text = paragraph.Range.Text;
+            return (LaurisParagraph.ResemblesLaurisParagraph(text)
+                || LaurisTimePoint.IsTimeStampLine(text));
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/zaaReloaded2/Ribbon.cs b/zaaReloaded2/Ribbon.cs
index fb27e25..58bed47 100755
--- a/zaaReloaded2/Ribbon.cs
+++ b/zaaReloaded2/Ribbon.cs
@@ -162,9 +162,10 @@ namespace zaaReloaded2
         /// </remarks>
         public bool CanFormat(Office.IRibbonControl control)
         {
-            Word.Selection s = Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.ActiveWindow.Selection;
-            return s.Paragraphs.Count > 1 || 
-                (s.Text.Length > 1 && s.Text.EndsWith("\r"));
+            return Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.ActiveDocument != null;
+            //Word.Selection s = Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.ActiveWindow.Selection;
+            //return s.Paragraphs.Count > 1 || 
+            //    (s.Text.Length > 1 && s.Text.EndsWith("\r"));
         }
 
         #endregion
@@ -173,6 +174,24 @@ namespace zaaReloaded2
 
         void DoFormat()
         {
+            // If no "real" selection exists, attempt to auto-detect the lab data.
+            // (NB Technically, there is never _no_ selection in a document.)
+            Word.Window activeWindow = Globals.ThisAddIn.Application.ActiveWindow;
+            Word.Selection sel = activeWindow.Selection;
+            if (!(sel.Paragraphs.Count > 1
+                || (sel.Text.Length > 1 && sel.Text.EndsWith("\r"))))
+            {
+                if (!AutoDetect.Detect(activeWindow.Document))
+                {
+                    NotificationAction a = new NotificationAction();
+                    a.Caption = "Formatieren nicht möglich";
+                    a.Message = "Das Dokument scheint keine Lauris-Labordaten zu enthalten.";
+                    a.OkButtonLabel = "Schließen";
+                    a.Invoke();
+                    return;
+                }
+            }
+
             if (CanFormat(null))
             {
                 SettingsRepository repository = SettingsRepository.Load();
diff --git a/zaaReloaded2/zaaReloaded2.csproj b/zaaReloaded2/zaaReloaded2.csproj
index 6d33e56..66f0c5c 100755
--- a/zaaReloaded2/zaaReloaded2.csproj
+++ b/zaaReloaded2/zaaReloaded2.csproj
@@ -192,6 +192,7 @@
     can be found.
   -->
   <ItemGroup>
+    <Compile Include="Importer\ZaaImporter\AutoDetect.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Controller\Elements\ControlElementBase.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Controller\Elements\FormatElementBase.cs" />
     <Compile Include="Controller\Elements\NextColumn.cs" />