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: Removing All Bookmarks.

Removing All Bookmarks

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 4, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Some people absolutely love bookmarks. They do come in handy, but if someone else set bookmarks in a document, you may not need them once you get the document from them. If there are many, many bookmarks set (remember, we are talking about people who really love bookmarks), removing them all one at a time can be rather tedious.

If you find yourself in this situation, you will want to keep the following macro handy. It examines the active document (the one you are looking at) and removes all the bookmarks within it.

Sub RemoveAllBookmarks()
    Dim objBookmark As Bookmark

    For Each objBookmark In ActiveDocument.Bookmarks
        objBookmark.Delete
    Next
End Sub

You should note that this simply deletes the bookmark, not any text referenced by the bookmark.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1630) 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: Removing All Bookmarks.

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

Declaring Variables

Declaring variables in a macro is good programming practice. Here's how to do it and how to make sure they are all declared.

Discover More

Selective Formatting using Find and Replace

The Find and Replace tool in Word allows you to search for formatting and alter it in your replacement text. What it ...

Discover More

Forcing Word to Display Spelling and Grammar Errors

If your document has enough spelling errors in it, Word informs you that you have too many and then refuses to display ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Protecting Bookmarks

Bookmarks are a great boon in developing and working with documents—until someone deletes them. When it comes to ...

Discover More

Determining the Number of Bookmarks Defined in a Document

If you develop a macro that needs to work with bookmarks defined in a document, it is inevitable that you will need a way ...

Discover More

Printing a Bookmark List

Need to know what bookmarks are defined in a document? Here's a macro that creates a list of all your bookmarks so that ...

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 one less than 9?

2023-01-13 07:40:20

nevzat

i have the same problem:

Hi Allen, I tried your macro for deleting bookmarks and am getting the error 5891 "that property is not available on that object" .
Do you have any idea for how I might troubleshoot this?

Thanks

2022-09-13 10:24:25

jen

Hi Allen, I tried your macro for deleting bookmarks and am getting the error 5891 "that property is not available on that object" .
Do you have any idea for how I might troubleshoot this?

Thanks

2020-07-23 00:33:01

Pearl

Thank you, Allen for this macro.

2019-03-05 16:38:52

Camila

Thank you so much!

2018-01-31 15:07:35

Charles Robinson

How do i remove all bookmarks from only part of a document?

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.