Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Printing Field Codes.

Printing Field Codes

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 13, 2024)

If you use fields in your documents to any extent, you may want to print a copy of your document with field codes showing instead of field results. To do this, follow these steps:

Display the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 and later versions display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
At the left side of the dialog box click Advanced.
Scroll through the available options until you see the Print section. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Print section of the advanced options of the Word Options dialog box.

Make sure the Print Field Codes Instead of Their Values check box is selected.
Click on OK.
Print your document.

If you don't want to print field codes, and instead want the results of those field codes printed, then just make sure in step 4 that the check box is cleared.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (6701) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Printing Field Codes.

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. Learn more about Allen...

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