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Guest

Can you tell me, without seeing the document, what this field means in a
header?
{REF _Ref133219315 \h \*MERGEFORMAT}

Each time I move things around in the document and try to change the header,
every single header changes to the same thing, even though the "link to
previous" is discontinued. I know I'm gonna feel stupid when I hear your
answer, but tell me anyway!

Although this document has driven me crazy (someone else had converted it by
using the Adobe feature that converts from PDF to Word), I do admire its
seemingly totally automated layout.

If you could just tell me where to start to begin to commence to understand
how to get the headers to behave, I would appreciate it. And thanks for all
you do!
 
It's a cross-reference of some kind. Since it's a hyperlink, you can click
on it and see where it goes.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
That field is what you get when you create a cross-reference to a heading or
other item in the document. Technically, it displays the contents of a
hidden bookmark and acts as a hyperlink to the bookmark's location.

Taken piece by piece:

- REF is the keyword that says "repeat the content of the bookmark..."
- Any bookmark whose name starts with an underscore is hidden. When you open
the Insert > Bookmark dialog, you can check the "Hidden bookmarks" box to
see them in the list, and you can use the GoTo button to jump to their
locations. You can't create a hidden bookmark through that dialog, but the
Insert > Reference > Cross-reference dialog can make one, and it's possible
to do it with a macro.
- The \h switch makes the field act as a hyperlink.
- The \*MERGEFORMAT switch controls what happens to the formatting when the
field is updated.

If "Same As Previous" is turned off but all the headers show the same thing,
AND if the document contains more than one section, then the REF fields all
point to the same item as a cross-reference. To fix it, you'll have to
delete the existing fields and insert new cross-references to the correct
items.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Jay, thank you so very much for the comprehensive analysis of my problem. I
never knew there were even such things as hidden bookmarks! I intend to
study your answer and learn from it. Thanks again!
 
Thanks a million, Suzanne. You and Jay have certainly enlightened me, which
is something I like very much!
 
The MVP's are a great resource you can go to www.word.mvps.org for more
answers to more complex questions...I don't let one student out the door
without all the MVP's addresses. They are great...they have an MVP site for
each and every product that MS has. Sometimes they answer questions I
haven't even thought of yet. They are wonderful sites full of information
that an average person can understand.
 
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