Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 11, , , , 2010, 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: Understanding Document Variables.

Understanding Document Variables

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 17, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 11, , , , 2010, and 2016

Visual Basic for Applications allows you to create persistent variables that are associated with a document. Document variables are typically used to maintain some sort of information from one invocation of a macro to the next. For instance, you may want your macro to remember the defaults that it uses when prompting the user. These defaults can be stored within document variables.

To create a document variable within a macro, you use the Add method with the Variables collection. All you need to do is provide the name for the variable and the value you want assigned to the variable. For instance, the following macro line will create a variable called MyVar and assign it a value of 27:

ActiveDocument.Variables.Add Name:="MyVar", Value:=27

At a later time, you can access the value associated with the variable by using the variable's name, as follows:

DefaultToUse = ActiveDocument.Variables("MyVar")

Typically, users would never see the contents of a document variable; they are intended primarily for use within macros. You can, however, insert the contents of a document variable directly within a document by using the DOCVARIABLE field, as follows:

{ DOCVARIABLE "MyVar" }

When updated, the field returns the value assigned to the MyVar document variable.

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 (11561) applies to Microsoft Word 11, , , , 2010, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Understanding Document Variables.

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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Keeping the Styles Pane Open by Default

Word doesn't provide a way that you can display the Styles task pane by default. If you get tired of manually displaying ...

Discover More

Producing Cleaner Markup

Sometimes it seems that Word is overly aggressive in what it shows in its markup when you have Track Changes turned on. ...

Discover More

Endnotes in a Separate Document

When you add endnotes to a document they are normally positioned (as one would expect) at the end of the document. You ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Moving the Insertion Point to the End of a Line

When writing a macro to process the text in a document, you may need to move the insertion point to the end of a line. ...

Discover More

Determining the Number of Fonts Available

When creating a macro, you may need to figure out how many fonts are available to Word. You can do this using the ...

Discover More

Testing if Word is Running on a Windows or Mac System

When creating macros for others to use, it can be helpful to know whether those others are running the macro on a Windows ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is three more than 2?

2020-03-31 01:23:15

derek caffrey

Is there a way in VBA to find a specific word using an input box and replace it with new formatting. I was thinking, change the font colour to yellow and the highlight colour to red in the replace text.

I tried to adapt this macro from another source but I couldn't make the replace element format properly:

Sub FindAndReplaceInSelection()
Dim strFindText As String
Dim strReplaceText As String

strFindText = InputBox("Enter finding text here:")
strReplaceText = InputBox("Enter replacing text here:")

With Selection.Find
.Text = strFindText
.Replacement.Text = strReplaceText
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindStop
.Format = True
.Highlight = True
.HighlightColorIndex = wdRed
.Color = wdColorYellow
.Spacing = 0.6
.Bold = True
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchWildcards = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False

End With
Selection.Find.Execute Replace:=wdReplaceAll
End Sub

This Site

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.