One of my clients called me in a complete tizzy about a month ago. It seems they needed to find out how to unlink cross-referenced fields as well as automatic caption numbering. Now the real reason they were in a tizzy was their superior at work no longer wanted them and my client wanted to know if there was a quick and easy way to do this and still keep their text untouched.
Well…there is a way to do it, and I told the client so BUT, I also told them that I would never, ever recommend they do it.
Follow the steps below to find out:
- Prior to doing this, do a test on a COPY of your document because you WILL lose many automated things. Along with using a copy, I would also advise keeping a copy of your document with all your links intact in case you may have to update it later.
- The quickest method would be to turn off Track Changes, select your entire document using the shortcut Ctrl +A, and press Ctrl + Shift + F9, which removes ALL the field information in your document and reverts the text to plain text.
- A safer method would be to turn off Track Changes, select several paragraphs simultaneously, then press Ctrl + Shift + F9 to revert your fields in those paragraphs to plain text.
- You most likely are not aware of all the places where fields have been used in your document, and this single-step solution will break all of them and make them plain text.
Having said that, there is a way that you can see where fields reside in your document:
- Click on File | Options | Advanced.
- Then scroll to Show Document Content
- Then click the drop-down arrow next to Field Shading and change it to Always.
- Click OK to close Options.
- Now, all fields in your document excluding hyperlinked URLs and outline numbering [unless you select the number] will have grey shading behind them, including:
- headers and footers if you use document automation on the cover pages to populate these
- table of contents and lists of tables and figures
- auto caption numbering
- x-refs to sections, tables, figures, and appendices
- numbered citations to items in a numbered reference list, if used, or to a linked database of references, such as EndNote
In addition to the obvious fields listed above (i.e., the ones with the grey shading), you will also break any links you may have to websites.
Unlinking your fields will make updating your document later a lot more tedious and time-consuming, which nobody wants.
Any table or figure, that you add or delete for example, means that all other tables and figures after that addition or deletion have to be renumbered manually. And not just the captions either, but any reference to those tables or figures in your text as well.
It is possible that you could be ignoring the disability laws in your country.
So for these reasons and possibly more, I highly advise you not to do this even though it is possible. Please do not ask me how I know!
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