Field Codes in Word

You can insert field codes in Word by going to Insert . . . Quick Parts . . . and selecting Field. You can use some of these fields to enter simple metadata values. For example you can enter the current date with the DATE field. Field codes are revealed by pressing ALT + F9 in Word. In this example we can see that the date of the document is visible when field codes are toggled off:

. . . when we press ALT + F9 the field codes are revealed:

Field codes can be helpful when you're working on a brief that will later be edited so it can be filed by different plaintiffs. In the example above we have inserted ASK and REF fields. The ASK field is set up to prompt the user to enter a name for the plaintiff. The REF field plugs in the answer. So if we go to Insert . . . Quick Parts . . . Field and select ASK in the list to the left, we can enter a question in the prompt box and assign it a bookmark name - in this example plaintiff1.

Where we want the answer to the ASK question to appear we insert a REF field and assign it the plaintiff1 bookmark.

If a user clicks in the ASK field and presses F9 she or he will be prompted to submit an answer:

Toggling off the field codes will show that the REF field is then updated. If you want to update all of the instances to the plaintiffs name with the REF field, with the field codes toggled on, copy the REF. Then in find and replace for the existing plaintiff name, replace with the clipboard contents or ^c .