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: Formatting Text in Custom Document Properties.

Formatting Text in Custom Document Properties

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 1, 2015)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


1

Mark asked if there is a way to apply character-level formatting (bold, italic, etc.) to text that is stored in a custom document property. The short answer is that there is no way to do this. There is, however, a way to apply formatting the field used to insert the document property into the body of your document. Follow these steps:

  1. Press Ctrl+F9 to insert a pair of field braces.
  2. Inside the field, type the following: docproperty Custom1 /* charformat
  3. Manually format the "d" in docproperty the way you want (bold, italics, etc.).
  4. Press F9 to update the field.

The above steps result in the document property being formatted with the same characteristic that you applied to the first character in step 3. If the document property has more than one word in it, you should realize that the formatting will only be applied to the first word in the result.

This, of course, won't help you if you need a more granular level of formatting. For instance, if the document property is a single-word company trademark and the first four characters are in regular type and the last five are in bold, then that level of formatting cannot be done through either document properties or in the field used to insert the document property.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (5412) 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: Formatting Text in Custom Document Properties.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Date for Next Wednesday

When working with dates, it is often helpful to be able to calculate some date in the future based on a starting date. ...

Discover More

Suppressing Endnotes

Endnotes are a beneficial necessity for some documents. If you want to print a copy of the document without endnotes, ...

Discover More

Stopping a Worksheet from being Moved or Copied

Want to stop a user from moving or copying a worksheet? This task (like many) can be more complex than one would hope. ...

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)

Automatically Saving Document Copies on Floppy

WordPerfect included a command that allowed users to save a copy of their current document to the A: drive. Word has no ...

Discover More

Removing All File Properties

Want to get rid of any properties you've created for a document? You can do so by using the short macro described in this ...

Discover More

Getting Input from a Text File

VBA includes some commands that you can use to read information from text files (non-Word documents). These commands can ...

Discover More
Subscribe

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.

What is two more than 7?

2016-04-22 08:46:40

marais

Try perhaps to go to the developer tab and selecting the text and clicking design mode and then apply the changes you want


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.

Videos
Subscribe

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

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.