Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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: Displaying Fields.
Many of the tips provided in WordTips rely on the use of fields. The reason for this is simple: Fields allow the easy inclusion of dynamic data within your documents. Normally, Word hides the contents of fields (the "codes" that are intrinsic to the field), replacing them instead with their result, if they are the type of field that yields a result.
If you want to see the contents of your fields, then you can toggle the display so that those contents are visible. You do this by pressing Alt+F9. Any field contents should then be visible, and you can modify those field contents, if desired.
Remember that this shortcut functions as a toggle. When you are through viewing the field contents, just press Alt+F9 again. Word hides the field contents and replaces them with the field results, if any.
The Alt+F9 toggle affects all the fields in your document. If you want to affect only a single field (the one in which the insertion pointer is located) you can use Shift+F9 as the toggle. Other fields in the document remain unaffected by your action. You can also, if desired, right-click on a field and choose Toggle Field Codes from the resulting Context menu.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9083) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Displaying Fields.
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2015-05-01 22:22:07
Damal Pathangi Kannan
Dear Mr. Allen,
Thanks very much for the tip. It helped me to overcome the difficulty. How to avoid recurrence?
Advance thanks.
DPK
2014-11-02 13:37:12
peter
It's perhaps worth noting that where you have a field within a field (eg a conditional field) and click on that field so it turns grey, Shift-F9 only displays those field codes one at a time. You have to click on each in turn. The way to avoid this is to select ALL the grey text indicating that field. Word then displays all the coding in one go.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. 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: 
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