About fields

Fields are used as placeholders for data that might change in a document and for creating form letters and labels in mail-merge documents.

Microsoft Word inserts fields when you use particular commands, such as the Date and Time command on the Insert menu. You can also manually insert your own fields by using the Field command on the Insert menu.

Security Because field codes can be visible to anyone reading your document, be sure that the information you place in field codes is not information that you want kept private.

You might insert a field if you want to:

Display information about a document such as the author's name, the file size, or the number of pages. To do so, use the AUTHOR, FILESIZE, NUMPAGES, or DOCPROPERTY field.
Add, subtract, or perform other calculations. To do so, use the = (Formula) field.
Work with documents in a mail merge. For example, insert ASK and FILLIN fields to display a prompt as Word merges each data record with the main document.

In other cases, it's simpler to use the commands and options provided in Word to add the information you want. For example, you can insert a hyperlink by using the HYPERLINK field, but it's easier to use the Hyperlink command on the Insert menu.

Field codes appear between curly brackets, or braces ( { } ). Fields are somewhat like formulas in Microsoft Excel— the field code is like the formula, and the field result is like the value that the formula produces. You can switch between displaying field codes and results in your document.

You cannot insert field braces by typing the characters on the keyboard. However, you can insert them by using the keyboard shortcut CTRL+F9.

A switch is a special instruction that when placed in a field causes a specific action to occur. For example, inserting the \* Caps switch into a field specifies that the first letter of each word in the field result is capitalized.

Contact: {DOCPROPERTY "Manager" \* Upper }

In this example:

Contact: is the text that precedes the field result.
DOCPROPERTY is the field name.
"Manager" is the text for the required instruction ("Name").
\* Upper is an optional switch to specify that the name is displayed in all capitals.

If the name of the Manager specified on the Summary tab of the Properties dialog box (File menu) is Anna Gerrard, inserting this field in your document results in the following:

Contact: ANNA GERRARD