Word Hacks [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Introduction: Hacks #70-79

Many of Word's most useful features, such as page
numbering and cross-referencing, are implemented
with
fields. Most of Word's fields
act as placeholders, gathering, updating, and displaying content that
may change throughout a document's lifetime.

For example, when you insert a DATE field, rather
than just inserting today's date as plain text, Word
inserts a special code that says "Whenever this
field is updated, go and find out what the current date is and
display that." (Of course, Word says it a bit more
tersely.) To see a DATE field in action, press
Ctrl-F9 to insert a pair of field
bracesspecial characters that
can't be typed in using the standard keysand
type the word Date in between the braces.
Select the field you just created and press F9 to update its
contents. Word will gladly report today's date.

The hacks in this chapter show a few ways to take fields beyond the
basicsin some cases, way beyond the
basics. Working with fields isn't for the easily
frustrated, and the learning curve is on the steep side. But once
you've seen what they can do,
you'll find that fields are a very useful addition
to your Word toolbox.

Many of the fields in this chapter are quite complex, and Word is
unforgiving of incorrect syntax. Many of the fields in this chapter
are also quite long. Optional line breaks have been inserted, as
indicated with the " character, so
that the fields can fit the width of a printed page. A line break is
inserted in Word by pressing Shift-Enter. To save yourself some
trouble, download all the fields shown in this chapter from this
book's web site, at http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/wordhks.

When working with fields, go to ToolsOptionsView and make sure "Field shading" is set to Always. Don't worry, the shading won't appear when you print the document.