Referencing Numbered Sections in MS Word

[dqrose]

I have a long document in MS Word which contains many sections and subsections, all of which have numbered formatted headings (Heading 1, Heading 2 etc). I want to be able to reference those section numbers from other places in the document, for example:

"For the formula to integrate the Gaussian distribution, see Section 6.3"

However the document is far from finished, and by the time it IS finished, all the section numbers will have changed. Is it possible to set up links within the document that will update all such references whenever the section numbers change?

As a secondary question, can these also be set up as hyperlinks? I know how to hyperlink to another document, but not to a specific section heading within the same document.

Many thanks for any help received.

 

[fumei]

1. You can hyperlink to bookmarks within a document. You can place anything in a bookmark - a location, a word, a paragraph, a section. To place a bookmark go to the location (or text) you want to bookmark, and then use Insert > Bookmark and give the bookmark a name.

which contains many sections and subsections

You are likely meaning headings as sections. SECTION to Word is a specific thing. It has nothing to do with numbering really. A section (to Word) is a area of a document, not any specific text. A section is separated from other sections by a Section Break. Technically speaking, there is no such thing as a subsection in Word. You may delineate parts of the text, and have numbered headings, and sub headings. But these are not SECTIONS.

You may want to look up CrossReferences in Help. However, you absolutely can set up hyperlinks to anyplace you want in your document.

Gerry

 

[tf1]

Is it just the '6.3' that you want to reference so that when/if you later edit the document and the 6.3 becomes something else (say 6.4 or 6.3, for exapmple) you want the reference to update dynamically?


Regards: tf1

 

[dqrose]

Many thanks - I'll check out crossreferencing in the online Help.

I stand corrected: I'm using the term "section" incorrectly. I meant sections and subsections as they might be used in the context of a book, i.e. numbered chapters and sections within chapters.

TF1 - yes, that's exactly it: I want to reference the heading number that's created automatically when I define that heading, so that for example I can refer to section 6.3 from anywhere else in the document, but in such a way that the reference will update automatically to 6.4 if I've inserted a new section 6.1 or 6.2 before it in the meantime.

And in fact, I've now found the answer myself, so I'll summarise it to close the thread: you do it by clicking on Insert | Reference | Cross-Reference, then in the dialog box that appears, select Reference Type = "Heading" and Insert Reference to = "Heading Number". All the headings defined so far are listed in the box beneath: you just select the one you want. Easy.

As usual, it's just a matter of being pointed in the right direction. Many thanks everyone.

 

[tf1]

I'm pleased you found it. Like so may things in Word, it's finding out that Word can do something you want and then finding out how to do it easily. I'm sure it's all in the manual!


Regards: tf1