Your header has three fields in it, at least one of which does not belong there.
00 deleteme 1.png

There is no reason for a TOC field to be in a header. I suspect that field is what is causing at least part of your problem, but it could be the Ref field.

Read the information on the StyleRef field and decide if that might be what you want to be using instead of the Ref field. I think you do. Then you would not have to unlink your headers and put in a different ref field.

If there is a reason you want a TOC field, tell us and someone will tell you what to use instead.

You can likely get rid of the \* MERGEFORMAT switch from each of these fields as well.

I'm amazed that your document worked at all with a TOC field in the header.
That is a Table of Contents field.

By the way, the Alt+F9 command controls the setting on your computer to display field codes. It does not change the content of the document at all. Remember to use it to toggle the display back when you are done looking.

Thanks for the feedback. I have to admit that I do not know what the various codes mean that are found in the header. As for the TOC, I wonder if that appears when I [insert] [Cross Reference] [Heading] which happens to match the TOC. As for the \* MERGEFORMAT, I do not know what causes them. I will attempt to erase each and see what the impact is, then start the process all over again. If all fails, I can take the basic text document, and start all over again with new headers and see what happens. Appreciate the support.

• Again, I urge you to follow the link on the StyleRef Field. There is no need or reason to be using a cross-reference that I can figure out.
• The TOC field does not get inserted as a side-effect of the Ref field.
• The \* MERGEFORMAT switch gets entered automatically when you let Word insert fields without unchecking the box to preserve formatting during updates. You would think that is what you want, but you do not. However, that switch is not causing the problem you've observed.

So, I looked at the StyleRef link but could not understand how to follow instructions that applied to a book layout - chapter titles on left (even) page and page numbers on odd page. I am able to set up the odd/even format, but didn't see how the StyleRef would allow insertion of the chapter titles on the even pages. From other web instructions, they said to [Insert] [Cross Reference] [Heading] which worked for most of the pages, except where it failed. Any suggestions on how to set up chapter titles in the header of an odd/even typical book layout using StyleRef?

This really is very simple.
1. Go to Page Layout|Page Setup>Layout and choose 'different odd and even'.
2. Insert the StyleRef field into an even page header.
3. Delete all content except the {PAGE} field from an odd (primary) page header.
Done.

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

To All: Thanks for your help on this issue. I appreciate the time you took to respond and I learned from your expertise.