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...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Printing Graphic Thumbnails

If you are doing work with a lot of graphics, it may be helpful to create a summary page that contains thumbnail ...

Discover More

Determining the Week of the Year

If you are working with dates in a macro, you may need to determine which week of the year a date falls within. This can ...

Discover More

Using Copilot

It seems that every company is in a race to add AI capabilities to their products. Microsoft is no exception, and that is ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Inserting the Name of the Last Person to Save the Document

Who saved the document the last time? Word keeps track of that information, and you can insert the person's name into the ...

Discover More

Auto-incrementing Form Fields

Templates are a great way to create new documents because they act as intricate patterns to what those new documents ...

Discover More

Updating Fields in Locked Forms

Updating form fields in Word can be confusing, especially when the fields are locked in a form. This tips explains why ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is five more than 0?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.