I agree. Since Word 2003, at least, very few documents need to be split into multiple files, at least on a modern computer with multiple Gb of RAM. For those that do need this, RD fields seem to be part of the answer.

The inclusion of this "feature" was the marketing people trying to match Word Perfect, probably over the objections/reservations of the technical people. I wish they could be held accountable for the grief they have caused many people, primarily graduate students.