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: Tool to View Field Codes.

Tools to View Field Codes

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 7, 2018)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

You know you can use the Field Codes check box on the View tab of the Options dialog box to control whether or not field codes are displayed in your document. You may even know that you can use Alt+F9 to switch between field codes and their results. However, what if you are mouse-bound, and want to accomplish the same task quickly without resorting to the keyboard?

You can add a tool to any toolbar you want that will toggle between field codes and field results. To add such a tool to your toolbar, follow these steps:

Choose Customize from the Tools menu. This displays the Customize dialog box.
Make sure the Commands tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Commands tab of the Customize dialog box.

In the list of Categories, select View.
Select View Field Codes from the list of commands in the dialog box.
Use the mouse to drag the command (or button) from the dialog box to its new location on your toolbar. When you release the mouse button, a new icon appears on the toolbar.
Click on Close to dismiss the Customize dialog box.

Now, when you want to see your field coding, click on the new icon. Click again, and the results of the field codes are instead displayed.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (542) 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: Tool to View Field Codes.

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

Creating Scenarios

Excel allows you to create different scenarios for the data in your worksheet. These can be saved and managed using the ...

Discover More

Conditional Formatting for Errant Phone Numbers

Conditional formatting can be used to draw attention to all sorts of data based upon the criteria you specify. Here's how ...

Discover More

Getting Bookmark Information in VBA

Bookmarks are a handy way to "mark" locations within a document. If you are creating a macro that processes the document ...

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)

Using Mandatory Form Fields

When using form fields to gather information from users of your documents, you may want to make sure that some of the ...

Discover More

Sequentially Numbering Elements in Your Document

One of the most powerful and useful fields provided by Word is the SEQ field. This tip describes how you can use the ...

Discover More

Inserting the Date Your Document was Last Saved

Word keeps track of the date each time you save your document. If you want to insert that "save date" in your document, ...

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 6 + 5?

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.