Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Getting Information About Fields.

Getting Information About Fields

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 4, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Many of the tips on how to get the most out of Word involve the use of fields. The proper and creative use of fields can increase your productivity with Word quite substantially. The problem is, there is not printed information provided with Word that tells you how to use the fields. (The Word documentation is worthless in this area.) The best way you can get information about fields is to use the on-line documentation in the following manner:

Choose Field from the Insert menu. Word displays the Field dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Field dialog box.

In the left column, choose a category of field in which you are interested. (In Word XP, you use the Categories drop-down list to select a category of field.)
In the right column, make sure you can see the field about which you want more information. (In Word 2002 and Word 2003 you use the Field Names list, which is at the left of the Field dialog box.)
Click on the question mark icon in the upper-right corner of the Field dialog box.
Click on the name of the field about which you want more information. Word displays detailed Help information about the field.

When you are through reviewing the help information on the field, you can close the Help window and continue with your use of Word.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (384) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Getting Information About Fields.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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