Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007 and 2010. 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: Maintaining Fields in a Merged Document.
Jacqueline asked if it is possible to maintain cross-reference fields in a merged Word document. It seems that when the merge is done, the cross-references are converted to plain text.
Word is actually designed to behave this way, and for good reason. Consider your source document for just a moment. If you have a cross-reference to a paragraph, that is fine. Now, suppose you merge this source document with ten data records. Now, instead of one referenced paragraph you have ten copies of the same paragraph—all in the same document. To which of the ten paragraphs should the cross-reference exist? Now imagine the cross-reference confusion if you merge with fifty or a hundred data records. Since Word has no way of knowing how the cross-reference should be maintained, it converts the cross-reference to plain 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 (11491) applies to Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Maintaining Fields in a Merged Document.
Discover the Power of Microsoft Office This beginner-friendly guide reveals the expert tips and strategies you need to skyrocket your productivity and use Office 365 like a pro. Mastering software like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint is essential to be more efficient and advance your career. Simple lessons guide you through every step, providing the knowledge you need to get started. Check out Microsoft Office 365 For Beginners today!
Fields are meant to be dynamic, providing a result based on conditions at the time they are updated. You may want to ...
Discover MoreYou can use the Advance field to change where text is positioned in your document. This tip shows how to use it and the ...
Discover MoreWord allows you to convert documents from WordPerfect format to Word. In doing so, you may notice that some dates in the ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2019-07-05 02:55:42
Marek Margetín
Hi Allen,
we understand the reason why Word works, but that doesn't mean that Jacqueline's problem, which I had too, should be unsuccessfully closed. I wonder where I'm making a mistake, but I see a simple solution that no MVP has written yet. Please correct me.
If the whole "problem" with cross-referencies in mail-merge is that a NEW merged document loses bookmarks / cross-reference links from the original document, then .. => simply edit only OLD document. With this idea I started to look for and in a few minutes I found that Field.Unlink is quite useful to replace MailMerge.Execute. The best part is that we can select which field should be unlinked/processed (mergefield) and which should be not (cross-referencies). Just need to prepare for correct output with turning on .ViewMailMergeFieldCodes (Preview Results).
Please do you see any serious mistake in that?
I'm a lawyer, not a programmer, so I don't dare to post here my lay VBA code, but it works like charm for me. If you agree, please type a short profi code for Jacqueline and other users. Thank you.
2013-10-21 19:57:21
jay
yes, so there is no tip?
2012-06-25 09:18:03
Dag Ole
So, the tip is; "You can't"? I wonder because I would like the NUMPAGES field to be evaluated in the merged document and not in the template and don't find a way to accomplish this.
Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.
Visit the WordTips channel on YouTube
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007 and 2010. 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: 
Comments