Live Autotext

[Link]

Now that my clock is correct, I am trying to figure out how to insert live
autotext into a document. I've successfully figured out how to put in
autotext (not a real challenge I know) but it doesn't seem to be live. For
example if I enter the filename as autotext, then save the file as something
else, the filename doesn't change. Surely it is supposed to?

And light shedding will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Link.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In general if you want AutoText to update, you need to insert an AUTOTEXT
field rather than the text itself. If you redefine the AutoText entry (and
the only way to do that is to create a new one and give it the same name),
you'll probably still need to F9 to update the AUTOTEXT field.

In this specific case, where the AutoText entry is already a field
(FILENAME), it will update, but, again, you may need to press F9 to update
it manually. See “The FILENAME field does not automatically update when you
open a document in Word 2002 or Word 2003” at
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=832897

 

[Link]

Hi Suzanne thanks for putting up with me here....

I have tried inserting the filename using Insert> Autotext> Autotext... and
choosing filename from the list. And I have tried it by using Insert>
Autotext> Header/Footer> Filename.

But neither of these methods updates automatically. Furthermore it seems
that I have to actually select the text before hitting F9 to manually update
it. Is this the way it is supposed to work, or am I missing something
obvious again?

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,
Link.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

If the "Update fields before printing" option is checked under
Tools>Options>Print, then the fields will be updated when you Preview or
Print the document.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Terry Farrell]

Also...

sometimes switching to Print Preview and back will force an update too.

Terry

 

[Bear]

Link:

In general, fields don't update unless some user or system event forces them
to update. They don't do it by themselves.

If you just need the file name, you'd probably find it easier to just insert
a document property field. It won't update any better, but it's simpler to
insert.

Bear

 

[Link]

Ahhhh!

That's quite clear now. I just assumed they would automatically update. Is it just me or is that somewhat of a shortcoming? I see that we can have the date and time update automatically, so why not the rest of 'em too?

Thanks to everyone who gave advice.

Cheers,
Link.

 

[Bear]

Link:

Your company musta sprung for the DeLuxe fields package. My date and time
fields don't update any more than any other fields. Boy, do I feel gypped!

There are lots of VBA subroutines posted that will update all the fields in
a document, so you could add a custom command or button or keyboard shortcut
(or all three) to update your fields on demand if you wanted to.

Bear

 

[Link]

I have Word 2003. When I go to Insert? Date and Time... there is a checkbox
at the bottom that says 'Update Automatically'. That's deluxe??!;-)

VBA subroutines - already sounds like too much of a workaround. Thanks for
the suggestion, but I think I'll just grin and bear it. Word is one of about
30 programs I use and it only gets about 5% of my time, so I don't know if I
want to go to those extents. I just want to learn how to use it better (out
of the box!).

I must admit that it's formatting absolutely baffles me sometimes - I delete
one thing and the whole paragraph, changes color, size, font, and context.
Well maybe not context, but it throws me for a loop! I refer to this
phenomenon as a visit from the 'Word Fairy'...

Cheers,
Link.

 

[Graham Mayor]

I have Word 2003. When I go to Insert? Date and Time... there is a
checkbox at the bottom that says 'Update Automatically'. That's
deluxe??!;-)

This inserts the date as a Date (or Time) field which reads the system date
of the computer whenever the document is opened. Without the checkbox the
date is inserted as text.

VBA subroutines - already sounds like too much of a workaround.
Thanks for the suggestion, but I think I'll just grin and bear it.
Word is one of about 30 programs I use and it only gets about 5% of
my time, so I don't know if I want to go to those extents. I just
want to learn how to use it better (out of the box!).

VBA is provided to fill those extra functions that users want - see the
example at http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm

I must admit that it's formatting absolutely baffles me sometimes - I
delete one thing and the whole paragraph, changes color, size, font,
and context. Well maybe not context, but it throws me for a loop! I
refer to this phenomenon as a visit from the 'Word Fairy'...

See http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/WholeDocumentReformatted.htm

 

[Link]

But for the styles. I'll remember that next time it happens. Hopefully
there'll be more fixing and less beating my head on the keyboard.

Thanks for the tips mate.

Cheers,
Link.