formatproblem in ref field (word 2000)

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hi there

hope someone has a solution for this

I have a problem with the formatting of a ref field

the case is:
I have a form that is locked
i have a fillin field that also creates a bookmark
this field has some formatting (18 pts bold)

In my footer I have a ref field that refers to the bookmark
this field has its own style (e.g. font: 7 pts )

for some strange reason the formatting in the ref field changes part of the inserted data
so for instance if the text in the bookmark is “a new day at the beach”
the first 3 words are the right font but then the words “the beach” are formatted with the style of the original bookmark
and it is inconsistent so every time its another part of the REF field that changes
I tried assigning styles but that didnt help

Is this a bug or not and if so is there a solution

thanks in advance for your help

Diederik

in the footer I have have a re

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Hi Diederik:
Format your REF field the way you want & then use the
* MERGEFORMAT
switch at the end. Your field should keep it’s formatting.

Edited to add
It ocurrs to me that you might already have a mergeformatting switch in there & that you want to format different parts of the REF field in different ways (e.g. italicize a particular word, underline another). If so, and if the bookmarked information changes, the * mergeformat switch may not help. That’s because it counts each word separately from the beginning. If you italicize the second word & underline the fourth, then the second word will always be italicized & the fourth word will always be underlined.
Cheers,

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hi Phil

thanks for your reply

the weird thing is I ‘ ve tried that
because it seems the most logical explantion
but it doesn’t work like it should

and I’ ve reproduced the same problem in an other doc

– create a ref field that links to a field with some formatting and ( a couple words in it)
and in the the thirth or fourth or sometimes second word it goes wrong
it takes over the formatting of the bookmarked field
“mergeformat” on or off doesn’t seem to make much difference.

I’ ve tried to work with styles, without styles

the only thing ive noticed is that if you use a bookmarked field with no formatting
(basically the default style) it keeps the right formatting

sometimes it seems to work but then after save and close the file, same problem.

it drove me crazy and i’ ve spent a whole afternoon struggling with this
tring to find a reason why

so if you have any idea for a workarround…..

Diederik

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Hi Diederik,

I too have seen this behaviour at times. One possible workaround would be to use a * Charformat switch instead of the * Mergeformat switch in the REF field. Then format the first character of your REF field to match your required display format, eg:

{B[/b]kMrk * Charformat}

Cheers

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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Hi,

the charformat seems to work.
thx!

diederik

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Hi,

the charformat seems to work.
thx!

diederik

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Hi Diederik,

I too have seen this behaviour at times. One possible workaround would be to use a * Charformat switch instead of the * Mergeformat switch in the REF field. Then format the first character of your REF field to match your required display format, eg:

{B[/b]kMrk * Charformat}

Cheers

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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hi Phil

thanks for your reply

the weird thing is I ‘ ve tried that
because it seems the most logical explantion
but it doesn’t work like it should

and I’ ve reproduced the same problem in an other doc

– create a ref field that links to a field with some formatting and ( a couple words in it)
and in the the thirth or fourth or sometimes second word it goes wrong
it takes over the formatting of the bookmarked field
“mergeformat” on or off doesn’t seem to make much difference.

I’ ve tried to work with styles, without styles

the only thing ive noticed is that if you use a bookmarked field with no formatting
(basically the default style) it keeps the right formatting

sometimes it seems to work but then after save and close the file, same problem.

it drove me crazy and i’ ve spent a whole afternoon struggling with this
tring to find a reason why

so if you have any idea for a workarround…..

Diederik

Reply | Quote

Hi Diederik:
Format your REF field the way you want & then use the
* MERGEFORMAT
switch at the end. Your field should keep it’s formatting.

Edited to add
It ocurrs to me that you might already have a mergeformatting switch in there & that you want to format different parts of the REF field in different ways (e.g. italicize a particular word, underline another). If so, and if the bookmarked information changes, the * mergeformat switch may not help. That’s because it counts each word separately from the beginning. If you italicize the second word & underline the fourth, then the second word will always be italicized & the fourth word will always be underlined.
Cheers,

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It does sound very much like a bug, and I can reproduce it in Word 2002.

I’m not a big field user, but I believe you might be able to tame the formatting by wrapping your REF field inside another field. I tried a QUOTE field, but that only made it worse!

Hopefully someone else will have an idea.

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It does sound very much like a bug, and I can reproduce it in Word 2002.

I’m not a big field user, but I believe you might be able to tame the formatting by wrapping your REF field inside another field. I tried a QUOTE field, but that only made it worse!

Hopefully someone else will have an idea.

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