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: Random OLE Bookmarks.

Random OLE Bookmarks

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 6, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016


1

Cheryl asked why Word sometimes inserts random OLE bookmarks into a document. These bookmarks are sequentially numbered and follow the naming pattern OLE_LINK##.

It appears that these bookmarks are created automatically by Word during some (but not all) cut-and-paste or copy-and-paste operations. If you are using Word 2007, you can visually see the bookmarks if you turn on the bookmark brackets (Tools | Options | View | Bookmarks) or follow these steps if you are using Word 2010 or a later version:

  1. Display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.
  2. Click Advanced and scroll down to Show Document Content. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The Show Document Content group of the Advanced options of the Word Options dialog box.

  4. Make sure the Show Bookmarks check box is selected.

Or you can examine the list of bookmarks in the Bookmark dialog box if you choose Insert | Bookmark (Word 2007 or Word 2010) or Insert | Links | Bookmark (Word 2013 or Word 2016.)

Microsoft provides no information in the Knowledge Base as to why these bookmarks are created, but they are a real bother to some people. The bookmarks serve no purpose that I can find and they can be safely deleted. If you want an automatic way to delete them, you can use a macro:

Sub RemoveOLE_marks()
    Dim J As Integer
    For J = ActiveDocument.Bookmarks.Count To 1 Step -1
        If UCase(Left(ActiveDocument.Bookmarks(J).Name, 8)) = "OLE_LINK" Then
            ActiveDocument.Bookmarks(J).Delete
        End If
    Next J
End Sub

Running the macro won't bother any other bookmarks in your system. The only ones affected are those that start with the letters OLE_LINK.

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 (10475) 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: Random OLE 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. ...

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What is 2 + 6?

2017-11-11 14:24:41

Allan Poe

"If you are using Word 2007, you can visually see the bookmarks if you turn on the bookmark brackets (Tools | Options | View | Bookmarks)"
Sorry Allen there is no Tools option in Word 2007. You have to go to Office Button>Word Options>Advanced>Show Document Content>Show Bookmarks.


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