Cross reference not updating

[Guest]

Hi

I'm having a little trouble with cross references. I have put a 'heading
text' cross reference to a heading (set up with the Heading 1 style) in my
document. However, if I change the heading (for example, from
'Communication' to 'Communication Styles'), the cross reference does not
update (even with selecting F9). The only time it will update is if I change
the spelling within the word (eg. from 'Communication' to
'Communicat**n')...not that I'd ever actually want to do this!

Is this because Cross References are limited or am I doing something wrong??

Thanks for your help

Sally

 

[Graham Mayor]

from your description, you probably need a styleref field to reproduce the
content of Heading 1 rather than a Ref field (ALT+F9 will toggle the display
to the field construction).

REF fields do not update automatically.

It is easy to overwrite bookmarks if you don't display them in your document
(Tools > Options > view) It seems likely that you are adding your extra
information *outside* the bookmark and therefore the REF field doesn't see
it.


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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

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[Jezebel]

It's an inherent problem with the way Word handles cross-references. When
you create the cross-reference, Word bookmarks the destination (in this
case, your 'Communication' heading). You can see the bookmark if you use
Insert > Bookmarks and check the 'Hidden bookmarks' checkbox. It will be an
underscore and a random number. If you press Alt-F9 to display field codes,
you'll see the name used within the cross-reference field.

The bookmark refers to a range of document defined by a start and end point.
The end-point doesn't include the paragraph mark at the end of the heading,
because you don't want a pragraph break as part of the reference. If you
make changes *within* that range, they are picked up correctly in the
reference. But if you add text to the end of the heading, it falls outside.
Word has no way to know that the bookmark should be extended (in some cases
you wouldn't want that).

For simple purposes, the quickest workaround is to type within the existing
heading, then delete any spurious characters -- eg, insert 'n Styles' before
the final 'n', then delete the 'n'.

A more dramatic consequence of this issue is if you press Enter at the start
of the heading (to insert a new heading and text) - add the heading and
several pages of content: now your cross-reference includes everything from
the start of the first heading to the end of the second.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for such a quick response, Graham.

Thank you for clarifying that REF fields do not update automatically - at
least I know I wasn't doing anything wrong.

Unfortunately, I don't think a StyleRef field will work in my situation, but
I learnt a lot reading the Help menu about them!! However, Jezebel's work
around will suit my situation, so I now have what I need.

Thank you again for your help.

Sally

 

[Guest]

Hi Jezebel

Thanks so much for your speedy response.

Your instructions were very clear and now I understand much better how cross
references work. I think your suggestion to type within the heading is the
best, but it's a bit annoying to have to remember to do this each time ...
the alternative is to always check the cross references, which kinda defeats
the purpose of them being automated. I suppose the page number is still
good, though!

I needed to know because in my training session next week I'm talking about
cross references and last time someone asked me as to whether the CR would
automatically update and I assumed it would. When I went to demonstrate, it
didn't work, so I didn't want to look silly again!

Really good point about pressing enter and typing more text - I've had that
happen to me before and never had a chance to figure out why.

Thank you again for a great answer.

Sally