Table of Authorities Long form not appearing in Dialog Box

Question

Using Word from Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise (I'm a Appeal Legal Assistant), and working with Table of Authorities. When trying to review the long citations after pressing Alt-Shift-I, the long forms does not show, only the short forms in the middle.

There are times when updating a brief that I need to make sure that the long forms are all there and if there are any issues. Has anyone figured out why they are not showing when they still show properly in Word 2010 (which I checked the exact same document I'm working on to see if it was the same in both versions). Is there an error in the program? Can anyone duplicate this on their machine or is there something wrong with my machine that I need to have fixed?

Thanks all.

[Moderator note: personal info removed] 

Answer 1

Hi @Bonni Salles,  

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A forum.  

Thank you very much for reaching out about the long‑citation issue in the Mark Citation dialog (Alt+Shift+I) in Word for Microsoft 365. I appreciate your patience and the details you provided. 

I'd like to provide the following information: 

Word stores each marked citation as a hidden TA field containing both the long form (\l "...") and the short form (\s "...") that Word uses to build the Table of Authorities, and although Word for Microsoft 365 may not display the long form in the Mark Citation dialog, the full long form remains correctly preserved in the TA field and will still appear properly when the TOA is generated. 

1/ How you can verify the long form quickly 

Please: 

• Turn on Show/Hide ¶ (Ctrl+Shift+8). TA fields are hidden text, so they only appear when formatting marks are visible Alt+F9 won’t toggle them. 
• Look for entries like: 
  { TA \l "Your long form here" \s "Your short form here" \c 1 } 
  The section after \l "..." is the long form stored in the document. 
• To jump between all marked citations, open Find (Ctrl+H) and search for ^19 TA, a common and reliable method used by legal professionals when reviewing or cleaning up TOA entries.  

2/ What to do if you need to edit or correct a long form 

• You can edit the TA field directly once ¶ is turned on. Adjust the text inside the \l "..." portion and then update the TOA. 
• Or you can re‑mark the citation: 
  Please select the full citation > press Alt+Shift+I > confirm the long form in “Selected Text” > click Mark > update the TOA afterward. 

For additional information, you can refer to these articles: 

• Create a table of authorities - Microsoft Support
• Word – Understanding the Table of Authorities Feature | Modern Legal Support 
• Troubleshooting your Microsoft Word Table of Authorities: A Deeper Dive into Field Codes - Jurisage 

Please note that this information is being provided by the moderator solely for your convenience. The referenced sites are not managed or overseen by the moderator, and therefore we cannot guarantee the accuracy, security, or suitability of any software or content available there. We recommend reviewing all information carefully and ensuring you understand any associated risks before following suggestions from the provided link.  

3/ About whether this is a bug or something on your machine 

Based on what you’re seeing across versions, this behavior does not appear to be caused by your document or your computer, but rather by differences in how newer Word builds handle the Mark Citation dialog, as the long‑form text still exists correctly in the TA field and continues to display properly in Word 2010. 

4/ Submit Feedback to Microsoft 

As a forum moderator, I hope you understand that I don’t have the ability to modify or escalate product issues directly. However, I strongly recommend submitting your feedback through the Word · Community. This is the most effective way to ensure your voice reaches the product team and can be considered for future improvements.      

Once you've submitted your feedback, feel free to share the link here in the comments. I’ll be happy to upvote it to help bring more visibility.     

If you are unable to submit feedback from your side, please let me know and I will be happy to submit it on your behalf.     

Additionally, since many other users have expressed similar concerns but may not know where to submit feedback, if my response has helped you better understand the situation and guided you toward a possible next step, please mark it as the "Accepted Answer". Your action will help pin this post to the top, making it easier for others in the community who are experiencing the same issue to find your feedback and support it.     

I hope this information is helpful. Should you have any further questions or need additional assistance, feel free to reach out.    

Thank you again for your time and for raising this important usability concern.  

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