Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. 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: Determining the Number of Bookmarks Defined in a Document.

Determining the Number of Bookmarks Defined in a Document

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 13, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365

If you are writing a macro, you can determine the number of bookmarks defined in a document by using the Count property with the Bookmarks collection object. This is done using the following VBA syntax:

x = ActiveDocument.Bookmarks.Count

where x is the variable you can then use in other VBA macro lines.

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 (12096) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Determining the Number of Bookmarks Defined in a Document.

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...

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What is seven less than 7?

2024-01-16 10:08:16

Andrew

To NOT include hidden bookmarks in the count, try using "ActiveDocument.Bookmarks.ShowHidden = False" before the call to "ActiveDocument.Bookmarks.Count". See https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/api/word.bookmarks.showhidden.

2024-01-14 10:22:40

John Patton

Allen

Try using ChatGPT to write VBA Word macros. It’s really good starting point. I wrote

“Write VBA Word macro to delete styles not in a list”

Here is result - not perfect but good

Sub DeleteStylesNotInList()
Dim styleList As Variant
Dim style As Style

' Define the list of styles to keep
styleList = Array("Normal", "Heading 1", "Heading 2", "CustomStyle1", "CustomStyle2")

' Loop through each style in the document
For Each style In ActiveDocument.Styles
' Check if the style is not in the list
If Not IsInArray(style.NameLocal, styleList) Then
' Delete the style
style.Delete
End If
Next style
End Sub

Function IsInArray(valueToFind As Variant, arr As Variant) As Boolean
' Check if a value is in an array
Dim element As Variant
For Each element In arr
If element = valueToFind Then
IsInArray = True
Exit Function
End If
Next element
IsInArray = False
End Function

2024-01-13 05:44:16

Ken Endacott

The bookmarks count includes hidden bookmarks whose name starts with an underscore for example _Toc156072804.

Not included in the count are the 16 predefined bookmarks whose name starts with a backslash:
\Cell \Char \Doc \EndOfDoc \EndOfSel \HeadingLevel \Line \Page \Para \PrecSel2 \PrevSel1 \Section \Sel \StartOfDoc \StartOfSel \Table

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