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: Selecting a Bookmark in a Macro.

Selecting a Bookmark in a Macro

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 27, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

You can select the text or document location referenced by a bookmark very easily with a macro. For instance, let's say you had a bookmark named MyBkMark, and you wanted to select the text it represents. The following code fragment will do the trick:

ActiveDocument.Bookmarks("MyBkMark").Select

You should note that the above will only work if you know the name of the bookmark. If you don't know a particular bookmark's name, you can use an index offset instead, as follows:

ActiveDocument.Bookmarks(3).Select

When this code line is executed, the bookmark represented by index 3 is selected, regardless of the name. Another alternative, of course, is to retrieve the name of the defined bookmarks and then use them within your code.

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 (13250) 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: Selecting a Bookmark in a Macro.

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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