Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. 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: Getting Bookmark Information in VBA.

Getting Bookmark Information in VBA

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 29, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021

Assuming the insertion point is located within a bookmark, John wonders how he can use VBA to discover the name of that bookmark and to select all the text within the bookmark.

There are a couple of tricks to keep in mind when working with bookmarks. First, it is best not to assume that the insertion point is within a bookmark. Instead, you can verify if it is within a bookmark by using the following code:

BkMkCount = Selection.Bookmarks.Count

When executed, BkMkCount will contain a value indicating the number of bookmarks. If you are expecting only a single bookmark, then you can verify that the variable is equal to 1 before you proceed with your code.

If you want to figure out the name of the bookmark, then you can use the following:

BkMkName = Selection.Bookmarks(1).Name

If you then want to select all the text in the bookmark, use the following:

Selection.Bookmarks(1).Select

To bring all these concepts together you can use a structure such as the following:

BkMkCount = Selection.Bookmarks.Count
If BkMkCount = 1 Then
    With Selection.Bookmarks(1)
        BkMkName =.Name
        .Select
    End With
End If

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 (12251) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Getting Bookmark Information in VBA.

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

Capturing a Screen

A picture is worth a thousand words, but getting the picture—particularly a screen shot—into a workbook may ...

Discover More

Creating Endnotes

Endnotes are often used in scholarly or legal documents, and they can be added easily. This tip shows how to add them ...

Discover More

Brackets around Footnote References

When you insert footnotes in a document, Word allows you to modify the formatting applied to the footnote references. ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Reusing a Bookmark

Bookmarks in Word are just like bookmarks used in paper books, any given bookmark may be reused to mark a new location. ...

Discover More

Deleting a Bookmark

Create a bookmark and you may, at some future point, need to delete that bookmark. It's easy to do, as described in this tip.

Discover More

Preserving Bookmarks During Replace Operations

When you do a search and replace operation in Word, it is possible that you could inadvertently wipe out a bookmark or ...

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 one less than 9?

2023-04-29 05:35:28

Ken Endacott

In a document with multiple bookmarks the following macro will determine if a selection is within one of the bookmarks, select the range of the bookmark and display the bookmark name. It will not find hidden bookmarks (whose name starts with an underscore character).

However, a document can have overlapping bookmarks or multiple bookmarks at the same location in which case the macro will find the first bookmark at that location.

Sub IsInBookmark()
Dim k As Long
k = 1
Do While k <= ActiveDocument.Bookmarks.Count
With ActiveDocument.Bookmarks(k)
If Selection.Range.InRange(.Range) Then
.Select
MsgBox "Bookmark name=" & .Name
Exit Sub
End If
End With
k = k + 1
Loop
MsgBox "Selection is not within a bookmark"
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.