Using Fields for Fractions

There is an often-overlooked way to add fractions to your Word documents—through the use of the EQ field. This field was originally designed for equations, and can be used very handily for fractions.

There are two ways you can utilize the EQ field for your fractions. Using the first method, your field would look as follows:

{ EQ \f(x, y) }

Just make sure you insert regular field braces by pressing Ctrl+F9, and replace x with your numerator and y with your denominator. The result is a fraction using a horizontal divider between the numerator and the denominator.

The other EQ field method is as follows:

{ EQ \s\up2(x)/\s\do2(y) }

This approach uses quite a few different EQ field switches to format the equation. The first part utilizes the \s\up2 switches to position a superscript. The last part utilizes the \s\do2 switches to position a subscript.

The reason that using fields for fractions is often overlooked is because newer versions of Word include the Equation Editor, and it is much more powerful than the older field-based approach. Why, then, dedicate a tip to using fields for fractions? Two reasons, really, and it has to do with "old documents" in Word. If you open a document created in a very old version of Word, then it is possible that any equations you find in the document were created using fields and you may be called upon to understand what is happening.

The second reason for this tip is in case you are creating a document in Word that will be used by people who are using a very old version of the program. You can create field-based fractions, save your document in DOC format, and safely share it with those old-version users. (You couldn't do this if you relied on the Equation Editor, regardless of how powerful it is.)

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (10910) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Using Fields for Fractions.