Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 19, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365
Many of the tips featured in WordTips rely on the use of the special fields available in Word. Many times, these fields are updated, automatically, when you make changes in a document or actually print the document. There may be times when you want to make sure a field does not get updated. You can accomplish this by locking the field. Locking prevents a field from being updated; the last result is kept until you unlock the field and then update it. To lock a field, perform these steps:
If you later want to unlock the field, follow these steps:
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (5980) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Locking a Field.
The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!
Got a document that has a border around some paragraphs? Here's how you can get rid of the border using the tools on the ...
Discover MoreAdd a border to a paragraph and you may find that it extends to the left and right of the regular text margins. To pull ...
Discover MoreAdd a border around a piece of text (such as a paragraph), and Word makes some assumptions about the placement of that ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2021-09-29 14:34:29
JP
F9 by itself is the shortcut for updating an unlocked field in Word 2016, not Shift+F9.
2019-02-13 11:13:38
Andrew
Einat: Look at https://word.tips.net/T001367_Locating_Locked_Fields.html
2019-02-12 03:30:55
Einat
This is great! never known this is possible.
I have 3 questions about it:
1. Is it possible to access the command from the menus? anything from the right-click menu? (I searched, bet haven't found a way).
2. Is there any indication for a locked field, other then right-clicking it and seeing that the "update" option is grayed out?
3. Is it possible to lock (and later to unlock) all fields, or all fields of a certain type (like all "table num..") or all within a selected range?
Thanks!
(-:
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.
Visit the WordTips channel on YouTube
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2023 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments