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Cross-References
Goodmorning to you all.
This is my first post on MS Word forum. I have a big problem with cross-references. I'm a technical writer and I'm used to write mechanical manuals with a lot of headings, pictures and so on. I wanted to test the cross references but I found immediately a big "bug" on them. Simply, I insert a cross reference to a specific chapter or sub-chapter... but then if I had to modify my manual and maybe insert a new chapter in-between the one I had cross-referenced, then using F9 to update the reference it continues pointing to the old X.X.X chapter. I'm used to number my chapter and so I use cross-references to Heading... but I always have this problem and so, for the moment, the cross-reference are for me useless at all. If someone has some suggestion, I'd really appreciate it a lot. Many thanks in advance, Andrea Colussi Italy |
#2
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Cross-references in Word make use of hidden bookmarks. There is a limitation with bookmarks in Word which means that if you press Enter, or type in text, at the beginning of a bookmarked paragraph, you are actually adding content within the bookmark. Obviously, this is going to mess up the bookmark—and therefore the cross-reference as well. The workaround is to always add new content at the end of a bookmarked paragraph.
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Stefan Blom Microsoft Word MVP Microsoft 365 apps for business Windows 11 Professional |
#3
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Stefan,
thanks for the reply. I understand to add or modify the bookmarked paragraph only at its end, but if I have to add a new chapter or paragraph before the bookmarked one... this is another problem, since the reference points again to the same X.X.X heading and don't increment its bookmark accordingly to the new Y.Y.Y heading... this is my main problem, due to I'm editing manuals with numbered headings and sometimes happens that I have to insert new paragraphs and so the next cross-references should update its reference accordingly... so in my case you mean that I shouldn't use cross-reference at all?!? Maybe in future MS will fix this thing? Perhaps with Word 2013??? Thanks again for your prompt reply |
#4
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In cases where it isn't possible to add new content "correctly" (from Word's perspective), you can always delete the messed up cross-reference and recreate it.
Just to be clear, note that you must always force an update of Word's cross-references. Switching to Print Preview and back to your previous view works fine (use Ctrl+F2 followed by ESC). To explicitly update selected fields, press F9.
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Stefan Blom Microsoft Word MVP Microsoft 365 apps for business Windows 11 Professional |
#5
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Probably I didn't explain me well... so a video would be the best thing to show you my problem:
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resi...4C71D7F934!299 Regards and thanks again Andrea Colussi |
#6
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When you add a paragraph at the beginning of a bookmarked (cross-referenced) paragraph, the bookmark expands to include the new text. In other words, your cross-reference now points to the new heading added, which is why the number is incorrect and can't be updated. In such a case, you will have to delete the cross-reference and reinsert it. Are you saying that recreating the reference doesn't work for you?
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Stefan Blom Microsoft Word MVP Microsoft 365 apps for business Windows 11 Professional Last edited by Stefan Blom; 05-16-2013 at 10:39 AM. Reason: typo |
#7
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Stefan thanks.
I just saying that if I have more than 200 manual pages and 15-20 different heading1 levels, then it's impossible for my to go and modify by manual each cross-reference... I'd love an option that would keep the history of the cross-reference and which may follow the modification in headings numbering... for example if the heading would have also an universal ID code (hidden in the code of the software), then the cross-reference could keep also this ID... when I add a new heading, a new ID would be defined and so the cross-references could remain linked to the original ID I set... I suppose Word is not working this way, so maybe this could be a fix for future Word version... this is just a suggestion. Defenitively, I cannot modify one-by-one the cross references, due to I have 50-100 of them in my manuals. Regards Andrea Colussi |
#8
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But are you saying that all of your cross-references are incorrect now?
You only have to recreate cross-references that misbehave, of course. For the others, updating will be quite enough. In the future, just remember to press Enter at the end of a bookmakred paragraph and everything should work fine.
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Stefan Blom Microsoft Word MVP Microsoft 365 apps for business Windows 11 Professional |
#9
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If I have 1 to 30 title with 50 cross references among this chapter, then if I insert a new title in position 2, then all the other chapters will change their numbers and so ALL the cross-references will have to be modified by manual... this is the problem. I sincerely don't understand what you mean with "inserting new text at the end of a bookmarked paragraph"... my problem is when you modify the numbers of the paragraphs... INDEX folder can be updated with no problem, but cross-references must be opened one-by-one and reselected. I hope this is clear.
Andrea |
#10
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Normally, you should be able to update cross-references by switching to Print Preview and back.
As I wrote in my first reply, the problem is with the hidden bookmarks that Word creates for any cross-referenced item. The bookmark starts at the beginning of a cross-referenced paragraph (a heading in this case) and extends to the last character. Adding text, or pressing Enter, at the end of a cross-referenced (bookmarked) paragraph is perfectly safe, while adding text or pressing Enter at the beginning of that same paragraph extends the bookmark (making cross-references to text or numbers incorrect). In other words, if you have two (numbered) headings as foillows: First Heading 1 paragraph <--- Press Enter here if you want to add a new paragraph between these two paragraphs Second Heading 1 paragraph and you have created a cross-reference to the second paragraph, or to both of them, you must place the insertion point at the end of the first paragraph whenever you want to add a new paragraph between them. If you break the rule, the cross-reference will be messed up. No matter how cross-references have been created, they must be updated (like most other fields).
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Stefan Blom Microsoft Word MVP Microsoft 365 apps for business Windows 11 Professional Last edited by Stefan Blom; 05-16-2013 at 10:40 AM. |
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