Using { Fields } in Microsoft Word

VERY ROUGH DRAFT - not ready for prime time - this is in the site right now primarily for the Additional Written Resources.

by Charles Kyle Kenyon, Esq.

There are no promises that this chapter is of the same quality and depth as the other chapters of this guide. That is because it was written by a single author not working with Microsoft and not subject to peer review. You will not find this chapter on the Microsoft site. Comments are welcome.

You should have reviewed the bookmarks and cross-reference portions of Complex Legal Documents before tackling this chapter. (Cross-references are one type of field.)

What You Will Learn

Additional Written (and Web) Resources

** These articles are on a subscribers'-only site. However, you can sign up for a free issue and get 30 days on-line privileges.

(this guide table of contents) ------- (MS Word New Users FAQ)

You will find fields to be one of your basic tools in preparing document templates that will automatically update themselves to reflect information you want to be in the document. Combining them with AutoText will give you a handy toolbox that you can use in all of your documents. 

This chapter is not a total review of fields, but rather a look at the ones that people working in a legal environment (or similar workplace) have found useful.

How to type fields in Word

The { } field delimiters can not be typed using the braces characters on the keyboard. They are special Word characters that have to be inserted as a pair using Ctrl-F9, or Insert => Field... or Insert => Cross Reference... or some other special field insertion command. If you are using Ctrl-F9 you can either press Ctrl-F9 first and then type your field or type the field code first, select it, and press Ctrl-F9. Once you are done with the field, press F9 to update the field and display the result.

How to copy a field from a newsgroup or email message into Word:

If you are using a typed field display from a newsgroup or email message first make sure that the field isn't broken up by any line breaks or paragraph breaks. (Lines that are wrapped automatically by Word are fine but turn on Show All to make sure there are no special characters at the end of the line.) Select the text inside a matched pair of braces and press Ctrl-F9. Word will insert its field delimiters around the text. Delete the typed braces.

For instance, with the field:

{ = { REF "Number1" } * { REF "Number2" } }

first select

REF "Number1"

and press Ctrl-F9, then select

REF "Number2"

and press Ctrl-F9, then delete all of the typed braces and select everything from the = sign to the end of the second field and press Ctrl-F9 again.

Then press F9 to update the field and display the result.

If you press Alt-F9 (view field codes) you'll see something that looks very much like what you started with except the field delimiters look like bold braces and the field will probably be shaded. Press Alt-F9 again to go back to viewing the field result.

For more on fields, follow the links on the Word Web Resources Page. For a table of shortcut keys dealing with fields, see below.

Using the Insert Field... dialog box to insert fields

(so far, just the heading)

Field Categories (per Microsoft)

The DATE field and its variations.

The easy way (but probably wrong way for what you want) to put a date in your document is Insert => Date or Alt-Shift-D.

If you don't check "Update Automatically" it is the same as typing the date yourself. If you do check "Update Automatically" it will update when you print (if you have the setting under printer options as "Update Fields" which is the default). You can manually force an update by putting your insertion point in the date and pressing the [ F9] key.

If you want to put a date in a template that updates to the current date when a document is created based on the template, or want to change the format or do other things with the date field, you want to use Insert => Field => Date and Time instead. Using the options here, you can either pick a format or type your own characters (called a picture) for the format. The options for the type of date include:

The above are the field codes that will be inserted for you using Insert => Field => Date and Time without using any options. A "\*MERGEFORMAT" switch is automatically inserted if you check "preserve field format" and means leave formatted the same way the field is formatted. Generally, you do not want to check this box or add this switch. If you want one of these formatting switches, you probably want "\*CHARFORMAT" instead.  This switch formats the field result however the first non-blank character within the field is formatted.

If you choose options, they can include the following "pictures:"

example: { CREATEDATE \@ "MMM dd, yyyy" \*MERGEFORMAT }

The word "picture" in the above table indicates a guide to Word on how you want your field to display and print. (Normally called a "mask" in other programming but Microsoft decided to call this a picture for its own reasons.) If you don't like the pictures you are offered, pick the one that is closest to what you want and then modify it in the Insert Field dialog box (or in the codes themselves using Toggle Field Codes). For more on "pictures" and formatting dates see: Fields Switches.

For information on calculated date fields and a toolbar button that creates such fields, see: http://www.addbalance.com/word/datefields2.htm. 

Remember that fields in headers and footers don't get updated quite as predictably. They work fine with CREATEDATE but can have the same problem as page numbers (see that topic) with DATE.

The Function and Shortcut Keys that manipulate fields

* It is possible to have fields inside of fields (nested fields). If this is the case, the Shift-F9 Toggle will not show all the field codes, only the outermost layer. To see all the field codes, use Alt-F9 instead.

** Alt-F9 is the same as checking / unchecking Field Codes in Tools => Options => View. Unlike a field code toggled using Shift-F9, if you update a field while all field codes are being displayed, the new field result will still be hidden and you will see the field codes.

*** Probably not the field you want to insert, though.

Bookmarks and Cross References (from Complex Legal Documents)

Inserting Bookmarks

We have all used bookmarks at one time or another. We've dog-eared pages and even used sticky notes to mark where we have left off in a book. Word does the same thing in long documents. If you have bookmarked a paragraph or heading in your document, the next time you open the document you can use Goto to move to your bookmarked location.

This is especially handy when you find that there are parts of your document that are constantly being updated. You can use bookmarks to jump in and out of those problem spots quickly.

Practice: Insert a Bookmark

1. Select any text on the page.
2. From the Insert menu, choose Bookmark (or press CTRL+SHIFT+F5).

3. Create a name for your bookmark in the Bookmark name field (you cannot start a Bookmark name with a number, and Word won't allow spaces within the name).
4. Click Add. (Notice that Word has added this new bookmark to the bookmark list.)
5. Click Close.

Navigating With Bookmarks

Now that you have marked your document with bookmarks, let's go over the easy ways to move throughout your document using them.

Practice: Find your Bookmarks

1. Press F5 on your keyboard. The Find and Replace dialog box appears, with the Go To tab activated. In the Go to what list, find Bookmark.
2. One of your bookmarks will fill the Enter bookmark name field. If this is not the bookmark you are looking for, click the drop-down arrow and select the bookmark that you want to find. Click Go To, and Word will take you to the bookmarked location.

   

3. You can go to the next bookmark by pressing F5 again and selecting the new bookmark name and clicking Go To.
   

Working with Cross-references

To refer the reader to another part of the document, you can insert a cross-reference.

Practice: Insert a Cross-reference

1. Create a new document and type the following:
   Introduction
   Overview
   Unsolicited Proposals
   Solicited Proposals
   General
   The Proposal

2. Click anywhere within the first line, Introduction.
3. Click the Style drop-down arrow and apply Heading 1.
4. Select Overview, and apply Heading 2.
5. Select Unsolicited Proposals, Solicited Proposals and General. Apply Heading 3.
6. Select The Proposal and apply Heading 2 style, and after deselecting the text press Enter twice.
7. Your cursor is where the cross-reference is to be inserted.
8. Type something to the effect of, "For more information, see".
9. From the Insert menu, choose Cross-reference.

10. In the Reference type drop-down list, select what reference type is appropriate for your cross-reference, for this example use Heading as the reference type. You can also use a numbered item, bookmark, footnotes, endnotes, equations, figures or tables.

In the Cross-reference dialog box, you also have a choice of how you want the reference to look. You could reference the heading text as shown above, or Page #, Heading #, Heading # (no context), Heading # (full context), and above/below.

11. Select Unsolicited Proposals and click Insert. The dialog box remains open for any other cross-references that you may want to add. If you do not want to add more cross-references, just click Cancel.
12. As you can see, your cross-reference has been marked. If you click "Unsolicited Proposals," Word takes you to the heading.

Updating Cross-references

If you have changed your text that is a cross-referenced passage in your document and the cross-reference has not updated, you need to update the field. You can alternate-click on the field code and select Update Field, or select the field code and press F9. This updates the field to reflect recent changes.

ASK Fields

Ask fields are very close to WordPerfect's prompt fields. When you create a new document that contains an ASK field, you are asked a question (written by the person who created the template) and given a dialog box in which you can answer the question. Your answer is then inserted into a zero-width bookmark and can be accessed by using a {REF} field anywhere in the document (or even in another document with an INCLUDETEXT field.)

This is still in its infancy. See my download page for examples of ASK fields.

MacroButton Fields - not just for macros anymore!

Syntax 

{ MacroButton MacroName DisplayText }

MacroButton - the field command

MacroName - name of macro being called - or "NoMacro"

DisplayText - text that acts as the "button" for the macro and is displayed in your document. Note that there are no quotation marks used in this field. DisplayText can be any text you want. There are probably limits on length. Instead of (or in addition to) the DisplayText you can insert a picture or icon to act as a visual button for your macro.

Behavior

Clicking on a MacroButton field will select the field. Double-clicking on one will activate a macro if there is a macro designated. You can change this behavior to make the macro activate on a single click as well.

MacroButton Fields as Prompts

You can use the first behavior (selecting the field) to make simple click-and-type prompts. If you look at many of the templates that come from Microsoft with Word, you will find places that say something like "[Click here and type]." If you click at that spot, the whole prompt is selected and anything you type replaces it. Often, this is exactly what you want for a simple prompt. What you are seeing is a simple implementation of the "MacroButton" field.

To insert a MacroButton field like this in your document:

Insert => Field ... 

Where it says Field: type "MacroButton NoMacro prompt." The "MacroButton" is the name of the field. "NoMacro" is the name of the macro - in this special case, none. The "prompt" is whatever prompt text you want. This can be "[Click here and type]" or the text that will usually be just fine but which the user might want to change.

As is the case with other fields, the F11 key will take you to the next field, selecting that field. When you use macrobutton fields as prompts, you may want to put an instruction in your documents to use F11 to go to the next field. I do this putting the instruction in blue or red text and a different font in a textbox formatted to float in front of text. The textbox is formatted to have no lines and no fill. The text in the textbox is formatted as hidden so it should not print. I have this textbox as an AutoText entry in my developer's template so that I can insert it easily when I prepare a new template.

MacroButton Fields to Run Macros

MacroButton Fields where the Macro responds to the contents of the field (uses them as an argument or variable for the macro)

It is possible to use one macro that responds to the contents of the field to change what the macro does. Doing this with Private or AddIn fields incorporated in MacroButton fields is discussed in the MacroButtons page on the MVP FAQ site. The same technique can be used with just the display text of the MacroButton field.

The macro is:

Sub TestMacro2()
Dim MyString As String
    'Ignore first 24 characters of the macrobutton field -
    '   the words 'MacroButton TestMacro2', and the spaces
    MyString = Mid$(Selection.Fields(1).Code, 24)
    MsgBox MyString
End Sub

The field is:

{ MacroButton TestMacro2 [Click Here] }

This can be used to construct a list of templates in the Workgroup Templates folder as macrobuttons. When you double-click (or single-click as shown below) on the macrobutton, the macro creates a new document based on the named template. A single macro decides which template to open based on the template listed in the macrobutton field.

That is, the following fields both call the same macro:

{ Macrobutton TeemplateListLoad Releases\Release - blank}

{ Macrobutton TeemplateListLoad Log}

The macro uses the display information to decide which template to use. The macro is:

Sub TemplateListLoad()
'   Based on ideas from http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/UsingMacroButton.htm
'   Macro written by Charles Kyle Kenyon
'   24 October 2002
'
    Dim sTemplateName As String
    Dim sTemplatesPath As String
    '
    '   Get workgroup templates path
    '
    sTemplatesPath = Options.DefaultFilePath(wdWorkgroupTemplatesPath) & "\"
    '
    '   Parse template name from Macrobutton field.
    '   (The selection is the entire field.)
    On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
    sTemplateName = Mid$(Selection.Fields(1).Code, 31) & ".dot"
    '   Use to create a new document based on the template
    Documents.Add Template:=sTemplatesPath & sTemplateName
    Selection.Collapse
    Exit Sub
    '
End Sub

Making MacroButtons respond to a single click

To me, double-clicking on a button is counter-intuitive. To make a macrobutton respond to a single click the following VBA code has to be active:

Options.ButtonFieldClicks = 1

This has to be run before the user tries to click on the button. It can be in an AutoOpen or AutoNew macro in the template which contains the macrobutton or in an AutoExec macro in a global template. (Explaining these gets beyond the scope of this article; see Template Basics for more.)

Using MacroButtons to function as hyperlinks in protected forms.

In a document that has been "protected" as a form in Word, hyperlink fields don't work, but macrobutton fields do work. You can use a macrobutton for a hyperlink to an external document or web page (and even format it to look like a hyperlink) in a protected document. It is more work than merely inserting a hyperlink, though. (You can also use a macrobutton to link to an internal bookmark with reservations, see end of this section.)

1. With your document not protected for forms, record a macro that opens the document to which you want to link. Save the macro in your document (not in Normal.dot) when you record it.
2. Use the Macro Editor (Alt-F11) to edit your macro. At the end of the macro (just before "End Sub") add the following line.
     Selection.Collapse
3. Where you want your hyperlink Press Ctrl-F9 to insert your field codes and type "MacroButton MyMacro displaytext." where "MyMacro" is the name of your macro and "displaytext" is what you want the hyperlink to show in your document. (See Syntax above)
4. Press F9 to update your field. It should show your displaytext.
5. Select your field and press Ctrl-Shift-S to get into the styles drop-down.
6. Type "hyperlink" for the style name and press enter.

When you protect your document your pseudo-hyperlink should work fine. Remember to set the ButtonFieldClicks to 1. Also, the mouse pointer will not change to a little hand when passing over your pseudo-hyperlink - but we can't have everything, can we?

If you would like some pre-written code for your hyperlink macrobutton, you can download HyperJmp.zip from the Visual Basic MVP site.

For alternative coding, take a look at Using Hyperlinks in Protected Forms on the MVP site. They show how to use a single macro for all your hyperlinks in the document.

When the target of the link is within the protected form it doesn't work quite so well. It will jump to the field addressed by your bookmark if your bookmark is for a formfield, otherwise to the field following your bookmark. If there is no field following your non-field bookmark, it jumps to the first field in the document. Note that fields inserted with the Forms toolbar automatically have a bookmark assigned. (You can change that bookmark in the field's properties.) Thanks to Marcy T. for bringing this problem to my attention.

For more on protected forms, follow the links in my web resources page, especially those to Dian Chapman's excellent series of articles.

Additional references on MacroButton fields

(this guide table of contents) ----- (MS Word New Users FAQ)

Using the STYLEREF Field to create dictionary-style headers/footers

Are you trying to get dictionary style fields (Krofta - Lamb) listing the
first and last entry on your page?

If that is what you are trying for, the following will work:
Put your last name field (or whatever it is you are trying to capture) in a particular character style in your primary merge document. In the header/footer use
two STYLEREF fields with an optional switch on the last one to tell it to search from the bottom of the page instead of the top. STYLEREF fields probably don't show up in the mailmerge toolbar.

Insert => Field... => Links and References (left window) => STYLEREF (bottom of right window) => Options (button)

Look in help for "dictionary-style headers."

You can name the character style anything you want and it should be based on your default character font with no changes. You are using the style as a tag rather than as a way of formatting. Remember, this new style is a character style rather than a paragraph style.

This is especially useful when you have something on the first page of a document which, if changed, should be reflected in continuation page headers or footers. Examples: the addressee name, the subject, the date. Useful StyleRef Field Tricks - Suzanne S. Barnhill, MVP

If you are doing this in a mail-merge, you may have to insert the header after you do the merge. Try inserting it before you do the merge, if that doesn't work, then try after. (I haven't tried this with a mail merge but it should work. After you get results, please share them by letting me know so I can update this.

Calculated Fields - Conditional Fields

A calculated field is one that does some kind of calculat