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The field tools in Microsoft® Word are mysterious to a lot of the
folks at my company. It reminds me of the magic tricks that fascinated
my daughter when she was little - pick a card, any card. Show me again!
Only, instead of being entertained with fields, people get annoyed when
they disappear. Here are some frequently asked questions:
- "How do I get the table of contents to show the new topics
I just added?"
- "What happened to the text in the header and footer?"
Most technical writers are already familiar with the concept of fields.
Microsoft® Word has its own methods for dealing with fields.
Getting started with fields
A "field" is a set of instructions. Each field is like a
two-sided coin:
- The field result. Say you want to insert a field that shows the
date that the document was saved. The field result is:
05/16/05
- The field code. This is the hidden side that your readers usually
won't see. The field code for our example is:
{ SAVEDATE \@"MM/dd/yy" \* MERGEFORMAT }
Word has many different fields. We could devote an entire article to
listing them. Instead, let's take a look at some categories of fields.
Field categories
Fields come in various shapes. They can:
- Give results. The document stores field instructions, not specific
information - so Word can update the information when you request
it. Example: the SAVEDATE field that shows when the document was last
saved.
- Mark text. Example: the XE field to indicate index entries.
- Take an action. Examples: the hyperlink field that jumps to another
location when clicked, or the macro button that runs a macro when
clicked.
Setting up the look of fields
Recommendation: Set up field shading so you can immediately see if
text contains a field.
To shade fields so you can always see them:
- From the Tools menu, click Options.
- In the View section, click the dropdown box in Field Shading,
and select Always.
Inserting a field
To insert a field:
- From the Insert menu, click Field. The Field dialog box opens.
- Select the Field name from the list of available fields.
- Select the Field properties - they usually relate to formatting.
- Select the Field options.
- Click OK when finished.
Doing maintenance on your fields
Updating fields
- To update a field: Click in the field and press F9.
- To update multiple fields: Select a block of text and press F9.
- To update all the fields in the entire document: Press Ctrl+A
(select all), and then press F9.
Locking fields to stop them from updating
- To lock a field: Click in the field and press Ctrl+F11.
Unlinking fields - to replace fields with the text they contain
- To unlink a field: Click in the field, and press Ctrl+Shift+F9.
Answering those frequently asked questions
- "How do I get the table of contents to show the new topics
I just added?"
Answer: The table of contents is a specific type of field. To get
it to show all the new topics, click in the table of contents and
press F9. You can also right-click and select Update fields.
- "What happened to the text in the header and footer?"
Answer: You probably typed over them instead of letting them update
automatically. Go back to your original template, and copy the header
and footer to your new document. And be sure to turn on field shading
so you'll know where the fields are next time.
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