Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 19, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365
Hasan has a document that includes a bookmark. He wonders if there is a field he can use to indicate the line number on which the bookmark occurs.
The short answer is no, there is not a way to do this in Word. You can obviously turn on line numbering, jump to the bookmark, and note the line number on which it occurs. Since Hasan wants a field to indicate this line number, though, it seems like he ways a way to reference that line number elsewhere.
A field would be helpful to do this, but since none exists, you need to rely on a workaround using a macro. Here's a simple macro that could do the trick:
Sub TypeBookmarkLineNumber()
Dim bm As Bookmark
Dim bmRange As Range
Dim lineNumber As Long
Set bm = ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("MBN")
Set bmRange = bm.Range
lineNumber = bmRange.Information(wdFirstCharacterLineNumber)
Selection.TypeText lineNumber & " "
End Sub
This macro assumes a couple of things. First, it assumes that you want the line number for a bookmark named "MBN." Second, it assumes that you want the line number entered in the document at the location of the insertion point.
A macro such as this is not as automatic as a field; it must be run every time you want the line number. (Obviously, this may mean deleting the line number generated by the macro the last time you ran it.) Plus, if the MBN bookmark stretches over more than a single line, it is only the line number of the first character in the bookmark that is entered in the document.
Note:
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Create a bookmark and you may, at some future point, need to delete that bookmark. It's easy to do, as described in this tip.
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