Tip of the week # 577
8 July 2019

Make it easier to spot cross-references and other fields in your document (Microsoft Word) ^*

Long documents, especially those containing several sections or chapters, often require cross-references to a particular part of the document, making it easier to navigate through the file. For example, you might want to say where you can find a particular footnote or heading or refer to a picture on a specific page.

When you put your cursor in one of those "fields", shading appears. But as soon as you select something else, it disappears. This can make it awkward to spot them, especially if you simply want to know whether a date was entered as a field (so that it updates automatically every time someone opens the document) or as text.

So why not change the setting in Word so that fields are always shaded, not just when selected.

Here's how:

1. On the File tab click Options.
2. Press the letter A or click on Advanced.
3. Under Show document content, select Always from the Field shading drop-down list.
4. Press ENTER or click OK.

Remember to press CTRL + A followed by F9 to update all references in your document.

Related tips

Update all references in a long document - tip_542.php

^* Unless stated otherwise, these tips were written for Microsoft Office 2010.