Cross-reference Formatting

[Jacquiemal]

How do I permanently remove the bold formatting from table caption
cross-references within a document text? On some computers on our network,
when you print the document, the cross-references revert back to bold
formatting, even after you've cleared formatting from the paragraph that
contains the cross-reference and saved the document. Any help will be
greatly appreciated.

 

[Lene Fredborg]

The problem may be that you applied bold formatting to the caption text as
direct formatting (i.e. bold is not part of the style definition of the
Caption style but has been applied locally). In that case, the bold
formatting is inherited by the cross-reference fields. Even if you remove the
bold formatting, it will reappear when the fields are updated (e.g. when
printing in case Tools > Options > Print tab > "Update fields" is turned on
or if you use F9 to update fields).

If direct formatting is the problem, you can solve the problem in different
ways:
A. Remove the direct formatting from the captions and update fields
afterwards.
Or
B. Add the \* Charformat switch to each cross-reference field to tell the
fields to use a specific formatting. The switch applies the formatting of the
first letter of the field code to the entire field result. Do as follows:

1. Press Alt+F9 to toggle field codes.

2. Go through your caption cross-references one by one and add the switch
before the rightmost field bracket, i.e. if the field code looks like this:

{ REF _Ref181717547 }
change it to:
{ REF _Ref181717547 \*Charformat }

3. Make sure to format the letter "R" in "REF" as you wish the field to
appear, i.e. make sure R is regular if that is how you want the entire field
to appear or make sure R is bold, italic and/or underlined if that is how you
want the entire field to appear.

3. Press Alt+F9 to toggle field codes again. Ctrl+A to select all, F9 to
update fields.

Note:
Actually, another switch is found that could be used: \*MERGEFORMAT. If you
insert fields via Insert > Field, that switch is included by default because
the "Preserve formatting during updates" check box in the Field dialog box is
turned on. \*MERGEFORMAT remembers how a field was last formatted and applies
that formatting again when updating the field. Personally, I always try to
avoid the \* MERGEFORMAT switch because it causes a field to be formatted in
bold if the field has temporarily been erroneous (such fields automatically
show an error description in bold and the bold formatting will remain even if
the error is corrected – you have to clear the formatting of each field).

--
Regards
Lene Fredborg
DocTools - Denmark
www.thedoctools.com
Document automation - add-ins, macros and templates for Microsoft Word

 

[Jacquiemal]

Thanks so much for the reply. I will test it tomorrow. Acutally, the bold
formatting is in the default Word "Caption" style - it's not direct
formatting at all. Weird.

 

[Stefan Blom]

Then you have to clear the bold attribute from the Caption style. For Word
2003, see http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/styles/ModifyAStyle.html.

For Word 2007: Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S. In the Styles pane, click the Manage
Styles button. Click the Edit tab. Locate the Caption style, and select it.
Click Modify. Click Format, Font. Clear the Bold attribute. Click OK, OK. If
you want to save the setting to the template, choose the "New documents
based on this template" option before clicking OK again.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message

 

[Jacquiemal]

Thanks, Stefan. We don't want the bold cleared from the table captions. Our
document fomatting guide requires that table captions be formatted in bold,
but the cross-references not be bold within document text. Thanks for the
additional help!

 

[Stefan Blom]

Sorry, I misunderstood your message. Instead, delete any formatting switches
in the cross-reference (REF) fields, select them and press Ctrl+SpaceBar to
clear any direct formatting. Then update the fields with F9. (See Lene's
reply for more.)

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


in message

 

[Jacquiemal]

Oh, no problem at all! I thank you very much for your responses. You have
both been a tremendous help!