Word 2010 Repeating Text

Question

I have a document that has multiple areas where the text is repeated. I would like to be able to enter this text once and have it repeat the same text throughout the document. I downloaded a template that does what I want but I cannot figure out how it was done.

I just spent the last two hours trying to figure it out by Googling and searching the Office website. Any help at this point would be great.

Solution 1

The chances are that it uses Content Controls linked either to document properties such as author, or to "Custom XML data". If you go to Insert->Quick Parts->Document Property.. And insert one of the items listed there in more than one place(Windows Word 2007 or later) you should see this behaviour. You can create your own content controls and Custom XML Data parts to do the same thing, but you need to use code (e.g. VBA) or in Word 2013, to use a feature in the Developer tab.

There are other ways it can be done. There are descriptions of most of them at Greg Maxey's site here

If your organisation uses Sharepoint, all that is required to create a similar kind of control is to create a new data column in a document library. Sharepoint then typically creates the content control and XML part dynamically when the document is opened. This is not covered on Greg's site.

Solution 2

I found a perfect solution by using bookmarks, from this website: http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/word-repeating-text-within-a-document/

You assign a bookmark to the text you want to reuse, then insert a cross-reference to the bookmark text. Whenever you change the original text, you only need to update the fields in the document for the changes to apply to the second (or third) instance of that text.

Here’s how:

1. Select the block of text you want to repeat later in the document. This text can be a phrase, one or more paragraphs, a bulleted list, a table, etc.
2. Insert a bookmark for the selected text (Word 2007: Insert tab -> Bookmark).
3. Give the bookmark a meaningful name, click Add, then click OK.
4. Go to the place in the document where you want to re-use the selected text.
5. Insert a cross-reference (Word 2007: References tab -> Cross-reference).
6. Select Bookmark as the Reference Type, and Bookmark Text as the Insert option.
7. Select the bookmark name you added in Step 3, then click Insert.
8. Whenever you change any text in the original list, just click inside the other list, then press F9 to update it (or Ctrl+A then F9 to update ALL fields in the document).

Comments

[cb4]

What question are you asking - how the template works or how to insert a block of the same text anywhere you want in the document?

[Maher Fattouh]

Can you please clarify what do mean by "repeating"? and example would be great.

[Maher Fattouh]

is the text dynamic? if the answer is no, the simplest solution is "Find and Replace" while writing your document just enter any unique text (e.g. "**** Text1 Here ****") and once you're done, just find and replace "**** Text1 Here ****" with your text.

[DrColossos]

Please include a summary of the answer along with the link. In case the site moves or changes, having the answer here will be helpful.

[Jan]

Exactly what I was looking for. Thanks & +1! :-)