VBA Unlink Cross Reference Fields for Specific Text

Shelley Lou · #1 10-22-2024, 03:07 AM

I am currently updating the styles of a lot of 200 page documents and need to unlink any cross references within the document that begin with specific text 'Part' or 'Schedule' but leave all other cross references linked. How would I go about creating a macro to only unlink if the cross ref field begins with 'Part' or 'Schedule'. Thanks.

Image of cross refs Part and Schedule before unlinked
Unlink Specific Cross Refs.JPG

Image of cross refs Part and Schedule after unlinked
Image of Unlinked Cross Refs.JPG

Unlink cross ref for Part and Schedule.DOCX

gmayor · #2 10-22-2024, 09:47 AM

That should be fairly straightforward:

Code:

Sub Macro1()
Dim oFld As Field
Dim oStory As Range
    For Each oStory In ActiveDocument.StoryRanges
        For Each oFld In oStory.Fields
            If oFld.Type = wdFieldRef Then
                If oFld.Result Like "Part*" Or _
                    oFld.Result Like "Schedule*" Then
                    oFld.Unlink
                End If
            End If
        Next oFld
        If oStory.StoryType <> wdMainTextStory Then
            While Not (oStory.NextStoryRange Is Nothing)
                Set oStory = oStory.NextStoryRange
                For Each oFld In oStory.Fields
                    If oFld.Type = wdFieldRef Then
                        If oFld.Result Like "Part*" Or _
                            oFld.Result Like "Schedule*" Then
                            oFld.Unlink
                        End If
                    End If
                Next oFld
            Wend
        End If
    Next oStory
lbl_Exit:
    Set oStory = Nothing
    Set oFld = Nothing
    Exit Sub
End Sub

Check before and after running the macro with

Code:

Sub Macro2()
Dim oFld As Field
Dim oStory As Range
    For Each oStory In ActiveDocument.StoryRanges
        For Each oFld In oStory.Fields
            If oFld.Type = wdFieldRef Then
                Debug.Print oFld.Result
            End If
        Next oFld
        If oStory.StoryType <> wdMainTextStory Then
            While Not (oStory.NextStoryRange Is Nothing)
                Set oStory = oStory.NextStoryRange
                For Each oFld In oStory.Fields
                    If oFld.Type = wdFieldRef Then
                        Debug.Print oFld.Result
                    End If
                Next oFld
            Wend
        End If
    Next oStory
lbl_Exit:
    Set oStory = Nothing
    Set oFld = Nothing
    Exit Sub
End Sub

Shelley Lou · #3 10-22-2024, 11:34 AM

Wow Graham, thank you so much, Macro1 works perfectly. What does Macro2 do, should I add it as a Call to Macro1 at the start and end perhaps - is it checking the document to ascertain if those types of cross reference exist in the document? If so, I could add a message box to say either found or not found maybe?

Guessed · #4 10-22-2024, 02:24 PM

Graham's Macro2 sends its output to the Immediate Window and essentially gives you a list of the remaining Ref fields values. I'm not sure on the value of running it but it does allow you to quickly review the document's ref fields to spot if there are any broken ones.

Something to be aware of when looking at your before and after screen grabs. You need to be careful of converting ref fields that start with Part* because a field starting with Parties or Party x would also get caught in that code. You could add a space "Part *" to eliminate that possibility but may also need a wildcard if there are non-breaking spaces in some cases.

Shelley Lou · #5 11-05-2024, 09:58 AM

Hi Andrew, thank you for the heads up, I have insert a space after Part and all seems to be working quite well - many thanks for the update

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