Automatically Duplicate Text In Word Document

Question

I need to automatically duplicate text in multiple places in a word document. 

When I enter text in one place in the document, I'd like the same text to automatically be entered in several other pre-determined places in the document. 

Is this easily possible in Word/Mac?

Answer 1

Given some text:

Highlight the text to be repeated (one or more words, or whole paragraphs), go to Word's main menu bar and select Insert > Bookmark:

Give the bookmark a name (spaces are not allowed) and click on the Add button:

Note there are other buttons at the bottom what you will be using later as you insert more bookmarks (Delete, Go To and Cancel).

Place the cursor at the point of destination (in this case, the third, blank paragraph) and select Insert > Cross-reference:

A dialog will open. Select Bookmark in the first dropdown menu, highlight the bookmark name in the list and select Bookmark text in the second dropdown menu:

Take a look at the other options in this second dropdown menu, as you may later find some use for them. Now click on the Insert button, then Close and you're done:

The inserted text (officially called a REF field) shows in gray (but it's non-printing) because I have enabled the following option: *Word > Preferences > View > Field shading > Always.*This lets me know it's a Word field (automatic text, if you will).

If you need to edit the original text, it would be better to enable the display of bookmarks (use Word > Preferences > View > Bookmarks), which will then show as non-printing oversize brackets around the bookmarked text. This will ensure that you only type new text where you need to:

Whenever you change the source text, you'll need to update the REF fields. Word does this automatically when you open the document, so you could save the changes, close and reopen the document. However, you can do this manually—select all document content (Edit > Select All or press Cmd A), Right-click (or Control-click) on the text and choose Update field.

Answer 2

This can be done with the use of Field Codes, such as REF & STYLEREF fields. Descriptive information on Field Codes in Word can be found here. The article is Windows-centric, but virtually everything pertains to the Mac versions of Word as well.

Field is listed in the Insert menu. Select the field in the Field dialog, complete the entry & specify any pertinent options. The completed field including the identifying braces will be inserted into the document. You also can type those with which you're familiar -- Just remember that typing the enclosing braces ( {} ) will not work. You must use the Command+F9 keystroke to insert a field manually.

Answer 3

Then try the equivalent preference setting: Word > Preferences > View >Field codes(uncheck).

Answer 4

Either right-click the field & select Toggle Field Codes or use the Option+F9 [fn+Option+F9 depending on keyboard type] keyboard shortcut.

Answer 5

Thank you.  

I tried doing both (instructions for doing that were in Daniel's post) and I additionally tried closing the document and reopening it.  All that happened when I hit Option-F9 or when I chose Toggle Field Codes from the contextual menu was that all of the text blinked very briefly, and then stayed as it was. (It showed REF and the bookmark name.) I could still only see the populated text in Print Preview mode.