Inserting the Document Title in Your Document

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 13, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021


Word keeps track of many pieces of information about your document. You can see the information maintained by Word in this manner:

  • If you are using Word 2007, click the Office button and then click Word Options. In the resulting Word Options dialog box, you click Prepare and then Properties.
  • If you are using Word 2010 or a later version of the program, display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Info | Properties | Advanced Properties.

If you search around through the information that Word maintains about a document, you'll find that Word provides the opportunity to specify a title for your document. Once you set the title, Word allows you to insert this information into your document and have it updated automatically. This means you can set the title once in the document properties and then have it inserted in the header, footer, or heading for your document. That way, you only have to update it in one place and it will automatically be updated everywhere in the document.

To insert the document title into your document (after you have added it to the document's properties, as described above), follow these steps:

  1. Position the insertion point where you want the title to appear.
  2. Display the Insert tab of the ribbon.
  3. Click the Quick Parts tool in the Text group and then choose Field. Word displays the Field dialog box.
  4. In the Categories list, choose Document Information. Word updates the choices in the Field Names list (right side of the dialog box). (See Figure 1.)
  5. Figure 1. The Field dialog box.

  6. In the Field Names list choose Title.
  7. Click on OK to close the dialog box and insert your field.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (6028) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Copying and Pasting Field Codes

Want to copy a field code and paste it in some other Windows program? This can be trickier than it sounds. Here's the ...

Discover More

Finding the Address of the Lowest Value in a Range

Uncovering the lowest value in a range is relatively easy; you can just use the MIN worksheet function. Discovering the ...

Discover More

Changing Spacing Between Table Cells

Need to adjust the space between individual cells in a table? Word gives you a good deal of control over this spacing, as ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Condensing Figure Caption References

Word can automatically add captions to your figures. You can then reference those captions from within your document. If ...

Discover More

Inserting a Cross-Reference to the Last Style on a Page

It is often helpful to reference a specific heading in the header or footer of a page and have that reference change on ...

Discover More

Dates Updating when Converting

Word allows you to convert documents from WordPerfect format to Word. In doing so, you may notice that some dates in the ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is three more than 2?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.