There are several ways to surmount this obstacle. Sometimes, it can be difficult to know where the fields are actually located in a document, especially when some of the fields do not contain visible content, such as a bookmark or index marker.
#Create form fields in word 2013 update
You do not have to turn on Update Fields Before Printing for dates and times to update they update automatically when you view the document in Print Preview or when you print. If you would like to change this behavior so that all links are updated before printing, open the Word Options dialog box (File, Options), click Display, and mark the Update Fields Before Printing check box. This is intentional, because it gives you more control over your data. Updating Fields for Printingīy default, Word does not automatically update fields before printing. To unlock a field that has been locked this way, click in it and press Ctrl+Shift+F11. To confirm that the field has been locked, right-click it the Update Field command is unavailable on the menu that appears. If the field you want to lock does not have that \! switch as part of its syntax, here’s another way: Click in the field and press Ctrl+F11.
#Create form fields in word 2013 code
You can type the switch into the code string manually if you find that easier than going back to the Field dialog box. Marking this check box adds a \! switch in the code string for that field. Some fields have a Prevent Fields from Being Updated check box in the Field dialog box. For example, if you use a field to enter the current date on the day the document was created, you would not want that field to update every time you open the document. Some fields can be locked, so they are never updated even when someone issues an Update Field command on them. If all else fails, delete the field and re-create it. When you right-click it, does the Update Field command appear on the shortcut menu? If not, perhaps it’s not a field it might have gotten unlinked (perhaps you accidentally pressed Ctrl+Shift+F9 on it to unlink it), or it might not have been a correctly constructed field in the first place. (That switch locks the field against changes.)Ĭheck to make sure that it’s actually a field. Also examine the field’s code and make sure that the \! switch is not present. Try unlocking it by selecting the field and pressing Ctrl+Shift+F11. If neither of these methods works, check to make sure the field is not locked. To manually update a field, right-click it and choose Update Field, or select it and press F9. Remember, most fields do not update automatically. Certain fields are not affected by performing an update because they do not pull information from a source that can be changed. If the update takes too long, you can abort it by pressing Esc. To update all the fields in the entire document, select the entire document (Ctrl+A) and press F9. To update multiple fields at once, select them as part of a contiguous selection range and press F9. If you have toggled the display of the field code string on, updating the field toggles it back to displaying the results. To update a single field, select it (or click anywhere in it) and press F9, or right-click the field and choose Update Field. (In this way, they differ from OLE linked objects, which are automatically updated by default.)
Most fields are not automatically updated each time you open or save the document. Now that you know about the fields you can insert, let’s look at how you can edit the properties of a field and update its values after insertion. Learn More Buy Updating and Editing Fields