MS Word Linking Question

JHZR2

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Lots of diverse experience on here, hoping that someone might help me with a handy trick in Word.

I have an item listed at the early part of a document. It’s a very specifically formatted document. Find/change won’t work…

I’d like to be able to somehow select/identify a specific phrase at one spot, and then be able to insert the same phrase elsewhere in the document. Then, if I ever change the first instance, I want it to change everywhere.

Simplified example:

“At the start of the text I am identifying the specific instance that I want to refresh everywhere. Let’s say I want it to be the numbers in the parenthesis that follow. I have identified the value of x to be (0.512).

Now in a subsequent paragraph, I’d like to be able to recall the value that I stated, in a linked manner. So if I reuse the fact that x is found to be (0.512), it is hyperlinked and updates.

Thus if I find that the value of x is actually 0.513, and I edit the first instance in the parenthesis in the first paragraph, it will automatically populate in the parenthesis in the second paragraph.”

Not sure if this makes sense. It’s essentially a linked value of flagged text that will update everywhere that I insert that same flagged text.

Hoping someone has some ideas.

Thanks!
 
  1. Select and highlight with your mouse the original text you want to cross-reference to, and then insert a Bookmark to it from Insert—Links—Bookmark by typing a name for your bookmark and then adding it.
  2. Subsequently, wherever you want to cross-reference to your bookmarked text, go to your desired insertion point and use Insert—Links—Cross-reference and select the name of your bookmark. You can unselect the Insert as hyperlink option so that there will be no links shown.
Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcuts for the above:

 
Last edited:
Bookmarks would do what you want like Gokhan explains but I think there's a restriction in that you can't use any punctuation marks. In your example, you want to use a decimal number but I don't think it will allow that. Whole numbers only...
 
Thanks to both of you very much.

I’ve tried messing with bookmarks, the issue seems to be that if I change the bookmarked text, the bookmark is gone. Thus I can use cross references and bookmarks, but can’t change the value of the first instance without losing the reference.

May (likely) be user error!
 
Thanks to both of you very much.

I’ve tried messing with bookmarks, the issue seems to be that if I change the bookmarked text, the bookmark is gone. Thus I can use cross references and bookmarks, but can’t change the value of the first instance without losing the reference.

May (likely) be user error!
That's a Word bug, but there is a workaround it. Pad your original text with a character at the beginning and another one at the end before you update it, and then update your actual text. This won't delete the bookmark. You can later delete the two padding characters.

By the way, @Hall, special characters are OK in the bookmarked text.

To update all the references in the document, Select All and then right-click and Update Field or press F9.
 
That's a Word bug, but there is a workaround it. Pad your original text with a character at the beginning and another one at the end before you update it, and then update your actual text. This won't delete the bookmark. You can later delete the two padding characters.

By the way, @Hall, special characters are OK in the bookmarked text.

To update all the references in the document, Select All and then right-click and Update Field or press F9.
aha! That's a great workaround trick. Thanks so much!
 
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