I've been looking for a solution for some time, nothing seemed to solve the problem so hopefully someone can explain how to solve the odd quirk.



I have a bookmarked selection of text
- call it TEXT1 - "This is Text" ; (font: 10pt, bold)

You cross reference TEXT1 and adjust it's text format so it matches nearby text
(ie, font: 8pt, not bold)

This works great, up until you alter the bookmark. Once altered, any of the altered text contains the original formatting, rather than the current format assigned to the cross referenced text.

How do i fix the cross referenced text format so that it will not update, only the text (unformated) will be updated?

What's probably happened here is that some formatting has been applied to the cross-reference after it was originally created. When you do that, Word tries to be helpful by adding a MERGEFORMAT switch to the field, which messes things up when you change the source content. The solution is to:
• select the cross-reference and press Shift-F9 to expose its field code, which will look something like { REF Bookmark \* MERGEFORMAT }
• delete '\* MERGEFORMAT'
• press F9 to update the field.
As an alternative to deleting '\* MERGEFORMAT', you could change it to '\* CHARFORMAT' and format the 'R' in 'REF' to whatever format you want to force the cross-reference to appear as.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

I just wanted to follow up.

The deleting the '\* MERGEFORMAT' didn't work. This seems to be caused because when removed, it reverts back to the original bookmarked text (not the nearby text). When you change the format of the cross-referenced text, word then re-applies the MERGEFORMAT tags.

Changing MERGEFORMAT to CHARFORMAT however, does appear to allow you to alter the cross-referenced text and it will persist through other bookmark changes. Word won't change this to MERGEFORMAT upon a reformatting of the text.

Thanks for the help. If nothing else, it solved me a big annoyance. Is there a way to default cross-referenced text to apply the CHARFORMAT vs the MERGEFORMAT?

That suggests you've applied direct formatting to the paragraph containing the cross-reference, overriding its paragraph Style. if you use the paragraph Style correctly, that shouldn't happen.
Not automatically, As you'll see from my previous reply, you have to both add the CHARFORMAT switch and format the first character in the field the way you want the text to appear. Word would have no idea what you might want for the latter.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Can you please explain the correct way to use the paragraph style because i'm not sure what you are referring to?

There are two ways a cross-reference is typically used for my purposes; A normal bookmarked text & Text Form Field. Both are used, and they're used for ease of use inside a document, and for created templates that will be edited. The issue occurs when the bookmarked item is altered.

During creating the document, the MERGEFORMAT is acceptable because the original bookmarked text isn't likely to be changed. During an edit however, the text included the bookmark may be altered. This is when MERGEFORMAT doesn't work as it brings the new text through without the cross-referenced format.

Altering the format during creation is a simple enough process. Performing it after during an edit is prone to errors. If there is a way to default choose the CHARFORMAT it would make creating much simpler. Alternatively i will have to manually change all of these every time.

See:
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm
https://support.office.com/en-us/art...7-1EB120DEC563
http://shaunakelly.com/word/styles/tipsonstyles.html
http://shaunakelly.com/word/styles/stylesms.html

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Create the bookmarks as you've already done. Then, use Ctrl+K to add a hyperlink to the bookmark. Change the hyperlink style in the document so that it doesn't apply the blue text or underlining of the original hyperlink style.

Michael K,

Thank you for contributing but this thread has been dormant for months. I do not see anything in the original post having to do with a hyperlink being needed.

Since we are back here...
Not built into Word, but see Change Word Field Formatting Switch - MergeFormat/CharFormat by Graham Mayor, MVP

9 1/2 years, in fact.
Agreed. It's a solution looking for a problem.

Thread closed.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

You have been asked before not to resurrect ancient threads. But that's all you've ever done. Do it again and your account here will be terminated.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]