Chapter 1. Building Dynamic Documents in Word

IN THIS CHAPTER

AutoCorrect Tricks	7
Using Custom Document Properties	18
Using Fields to Insert Dynamic Data	21
Performing Calculations in Tables	44
Adding Dummy Text to a Document	49

Most Word documents are relatively static affairs, with only your additions, edits, formats, and deletions providing anything resembling dynamism. That's fine because most memos, letters, articles, and proposals exist as is and don't require dynamic elements.

Not that Word is without dynamic features, even if all you're doing is typing all day. For example, Word's AutoCorrect feature fixes spelling blunders on-the-fly, and AutoText enables you to enter long chunks of text by typing just a few characters. Smart tags appear after certain operations, giving you context-sensitive options for modifying your most recent operation.

But beyond this day-to-day dynamism, Word offers a slew of powerful features that enable you to make a document jump through all kinds of hoops. With fields, for example, you can insert text based on document properties or the contents of bookmarks, run macros, get input from the user, and even create reasonably powerful formulas for such things as summing the contents of a table. With data entry forms, you can create sophisticated interfaces that get data from the user with ease and accuracy.

In this chapter you'll learn about these and other dynamic features that you can add to your Word arsenal.