Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. 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: Using the GotoButton Field.

Using the GotoButton Field

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 21, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016


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One of the fields included in Word simulates the Go To command, which is available from the Edit menu. This feature allows you to define a field that will appear as a "button" in your document. If the user double-clicks on the field, then Word jumps to the location in the document specified by the field. The syntax for the field is as follows:

GotoButton Location Display

where Location is the name of the bookmark or other valid Go To location to which you wish to jump, and Display is the text you want displayed by the field code. If you use a graphic instead of text for Display, then the graphic is displayed. When a user double-clicks on the displayed text or graphic, then Word jumps to the location specified by Location.

To use this field code, follow these steps:

  1. Position the insertion point where you want the button to appear.
  2. Press Ctrl+F9 to insert an empty set of field braces.
  3. Between the field braces, type GotoButton, then the name of the location where you want to jump.
  4. Type the text you want displayed, or insert a graphic to be used as a button.
  5. Press Shift+F9 to hide the field code and show only the Display text.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9806) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Using the GotoButton Field.

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. ...

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What is one less than 9?

2021-01-16 17:45:59

DJ

I tried this out. I could get button text (the 3rd parameter) to act as the button, which I needed to double-click to perform the jump. However, after inserting a graphic to replace the button text in the field code, I could not get the graphic to respond this way. Hovering over the icon displays the 4-way arrow mouse cursor, and double-clicking simply displays the Picture Format ribbon. Are there limits on the graphic?


2017-04-24 04:45:12

Gael

Hi. CTRL + F9 gets me the field braces but I can't make them hide by pressing SHIFT + F9. I can right click and choose Toggle Field Codes to show only text. When I select clip art as the Display option, right click and choose toggle field codes, and then right click again to go back to showing the field codes it only gives me options associated with images. No Toggle Field Codes. It works with text, though. Thanks for the tip.


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