Using formulas in Word

Question

I have a table made on a word document and I am wanting to add formulas into it. We are a vet clinic and the word document has merge words so that it automatically pulls in information on the patient from our veterinary software into the document. I am hoping to add formulas to that document. I was hoping it would be like excel where i could select a cell (patients weight) and then put in the rest of the calculation. But I can't see to select a cell in word like I can in excel. Is the possible?

Answer 1

In Microsoft Word, you can indeed use formulas in tables, but the functionality is not as extensive as in Excel. You can insert formulas into table cells using the Formula field, which allows you to perform calculations based on the values in other cells. However, you cannot select cells in the same way you do in Excel. Instead, you will need to manually enter the formula syntax.

For example, if you want to sum values from cells above or to the left of the current cell, you can use the following syntax:

• To sum values above: {=SUM(ABOVE)}
• To sum values to the left: {=SUM(LEFT)}

You can also insert a specific formula by using the InsertFormula method in the Word Interop API, where you can define the formula you want to evaluate. This allows you to perform calculations similar to those in Excel, but you will need to ensure that the correct cell references are used in the formula.

For more detailed information on how to use formulas in Word tables, you can refer to the documentation on the Formula method and the InsertFormula method.

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References:

• Cell.Formula(Object, Object) Method
• Selection.InsertFormula(Object, Object) Method

Answer 2

The best equivalent for cell addresses in Word, especially for places not in the same Table is "bookmarks." You can set a bookmark for anything in your document.

If you are merging data from Excel using Mail Merge, bookmark the merge field.

If not using Mail Merge but typing in, I would suggest using Content Controls with set bookmarks.

Formulae can use information in bookmarks using REF fields.

You would want to be selecting your document once everything is in place and updating fields.

Answer 3

So are looking to have the table do drug calculations for us. Our veterinary software requires us to use word to have "merge words" in the document so that it pulls info from the patients file in the veterinary software into that word document. We are hoping we could add in the formulas to do drug calculations for us. So one of the fields in the table has a merge word to pull in the patients weight from the veterinary software "<weight>". I need to take that value and then add in a drug calculation to it. But i assume there is no way to get it to take the value of that cell and put it into the formula. I have included a screenshot of the document. So for example the line that says Cepetor. I want it to take the weight from above and do the following calculation =<weight>*0.02/1. I can get it to work if i manually put in a weight but was hoping to get it to take the merged weight and figure it out that way...