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How to enter fields in Ms Word and automate routine tasks (Windows & MacOS)

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add field in Ms Word and automate tasks

Fields provides the way to automate some routine tasks in Ms Word. Fields open the door for automation in Ms Word. There are a couple of ways to enter fields in Ms Word.

Ways to enter fields in Ms Word manually

All the things that Ms Word keeps track of and updates is fields. Table of Contents, List of Figures/Tables, Page/figure/table numbers are just a few of the example of it. You can automate a lot of things using fields. You can insert a blank field using the following ways.

  • Using Ms Word interface
  • Keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + F9)

Insert new field using Interface

To get a new blank field using interface,

  • Place your cursor at the desired location where you need to insert field.
  • Go to Insert > Quick Parts and click “Fields” to insert a new blank field
    insert fields in Word

Inserting new field using shortcut

Keyboard shortcut to insert new black field is

  • Windows: Ctrl + F9
  • MacOS: ⌘ + F9 (Command + F9)

Automate common tasks using Fields

Following table shows commonly used field codes to automate tasks in Ms Word. Simply type the field code in blank field (don’t type curly brackets using keyboard) and hit F9 to update the field and yield result.

To DoField Code ExampleResult (After pressing F9)Remark
Calculation{ = 15.3 * 5 +2 }78.5Insert your calculation after =
Use ^ for power
Number to Text{=187\*cardtext }one hundred eighty-seven
Roman Numerals from Indo-Arabic{=147\*Roman}CXLVII
Today’s date{DATE}12/21/2022Format is MM/DD/YYYY.
Keyboard shortcut: ALT+SHIFT+D (Windows) and Control+Shift+D (MacOS)
Today’s time{TIME}7:12 PMKeyboard shortcut: ALT+SHIFT+P (Windows) and Control+Shift+P (MacOS)
Page number{PAGE}2
Number of words in current document{NUMWORDS}545
Number of pages in current document{NUMPAGES}2
Name of current file/document{FILENAME}Document1
Size of file/document{FILESIZE}14249Size In Bytes
Example of field codes for Ms Word automation

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