Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 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: Removing All Bookmarks.

Removing All Bookmarks

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 25, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365

Some people absolutely love bookmarks. They do come in handy, but if someone else set bookmarks in a document, you may not need them once you get the document from them. If there are many, many bookmarks set (remember, we are talking about people who really love bookmarks), removing them all one at a time can be rather tedious.

If you find yourself in this situation, you will want to keep the following macro handy. It examines the active document (the one you are looking at) and removes all the bookmarks within it.

Sub RemoveAllBookmarks()
    Dim b As Bookmark

    For Each b In ActiveDocument.Bookmarks
        b.Delete
    Next b
End Sub

You should note that this simply deletes the bookmark, not any text referenced by the bookmark. Also note that it deletes all bookmarks in the document, including any that may have been created by Word itself. (Word creates its own hidden bookmarks for various purposes, such as links in a Table of Contents.) If you want to skip the deletion of any bookmarks that Word may have created, then you can modify the macro just a bit:

Sub RemoveUserBookmarks()
    Dim b As Bookmark

    For Each b In ActiveDocument.Bookmarks
        If Left(b.Name,1) <> "_" Then b.Delete
    Next b
End Sub

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9004) 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: Removing All Bookmarks.

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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