Mediaboss Marketing

March 19, 2012, 7:53 AM PDT

Takeaway: To display specific information about a shared Word document including its author, you can use the fields feature.

When you share documents with others, its helpful to identify the document in various ways. You could display the documents file or author name, when the file was created or last revised, and by whom. Fortunately, using Word fields, displaying this type of information is easy.

First, decide where you want to display this type of information. Most likely, youll want to do so in the header or footer, but you can display it anywhere you like. Next, youll add the fields, as follows:

Its easy enough to include this type of information, but you might run into a problem. Fields dont update automatically. For instance, if you change the documents name, the FileName field will continue to display the documents previous file name until you update the FileName field. To update a field, simply select it and press [F9]. Theres your problem - you must remember to update the field to display the most up-to-date information!

You can add a macro that updates all of the documents field, but you must remember to execute it.If you forget, you end up distributing a document with the wrong information in the header.I dont have a solution that doesnt require a bit of user attention. Whether you create a macro button or attach the following macro to the files open or close process, the potential exists for an error of inattention:

This macro cycles through the StoryRanges collection, which references nearly everything in the document. Consequently, this macro updates every field in the document, so keep that in mind when applying itthat might not be what you want to do. Opening the file will execute it automatically.

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Add helpful information fields to a shared document