Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 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: Special Characters in Fields.

Special Characters in Fields

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 22, 2018)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021


When you are using fields in your documents, you may have a need to include the quote mark and the backslash in the field definition. Unfortunately, these characters have special meaning, and may not be interpreted the way you intend. Consider, for example, the following field:

{ QUOTE "You should use "Y" or "N" in your response" }

When you use this, you get exactly what you expect: a full phrase (including quote marks) in the field result. Consider the following example, however:

{ FILLIN "You should use "Y" or "N" in your response" }

When this field result is displayed, you see an input box. However, the entire prompt does not appear. You only see the text "You should use " in the input box. Similar problems are manifested when you try to use backslashes with some fields.

To get around the problem, you need to get in the habit of using a backslash before any quote or backslash you want included in the field, as in the following:

{ FILLIN "You should use \"Y\" or \"N\" in your response" }

This approach informs Word that you want the quote marks (or backslashes, if you use \\) displayed as literal characters.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12421) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Special Characters in Fields.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Inserting Multiple Drawing Objects

When you need to add more than one of a particular drawing object to a worksheet, you can use the techniques described in ...

Discover More

Matching At the Beginning or End of a Word

The pattern matching capabilities of Word's search engine are quite powerful. You can tailor your search pattern so that ...

Discover More

Determining the Complexity of a Worksheet

If you have multiple worksheets that each provide different ways to arrive at the same results, you may be wondering how ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Stopping DATE Fields from Updating when Opening a Document

A normal DATE field shows the current date, so it is constantly changing. This can cause problems in a document where you ...

Discover More

Inserting Summary Information

Want to insert into your document those snippets of information that you know Word maintains about your document? It's ...

Discover More

Inserting a Document's Path

You can use the FILENAME field to insert a document's filename and, optionally, the path to that filename. However, if ...

Discover More
Subscribe

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.

What is 3 + 2?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


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.

Videos
Subscribe

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

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.