Boost productivity, avoid frustration
No matter how non-technical you are, you should invest the ten minutes needed to understand Word’s field codes. Field codes are bits of program code that enable Word to provide automated features such as paragraph numbering.
If you are unaware they exist, you are likely to waste time and get frustrated.
Many universities provide templates for dissertations and theses and these templates usually contain field codes.
A common field code automates page numbering. This code automatically updates page numbers as the page layout changes. Another common code is for a table of contents.
Avoid accidentally deleting or tampering with field codes. How? One way is to get Word to show you that a field code exists. Do this in one of two ways:
1. On a Windows PC, highlight the text that has the code and press Shft-F9, a default keyboard shortcut (Alt-F9 on a Mac ). If the highlighted text is a field code you will see that it is so. An example:
{ PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT }
Press Shft-F9 to go back to seeing the result of the field code not the field code itself.
2. Select the text. Word will grey out the text if it is a field code. This is by default. A better way is to get Word to grey-out the field codes at all times. Go to File > Options > Advanced > Show document content [group] > Field shading. In the dropdown box, choose Always.
Some field codes do not update automatically (tables of content do not). Therefore, before submitting your document, on a Windows PC, right-click on the field code; click on Update Field. To update all the field codes in your document in one go, press Ctrl-A to select all text. Right-click. Click on Update Field.