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I thought I'd write a quick post about Word's field codes. I'm not claiming to be an expert in how they work or all their uses, but I do have an understanding of the basics – even though I have to look up the keyboard shortcuts associated with them every time!  You can see that this text has field codes as they are shaded in grey. In this piece of text, I've used fields to insert today's date, to add a call-out for a table, to number the table and to add a page number. All of these fields are a part of Word. This text also has a reference that I have added using the EndNote reference manager software – this software also uses fields. The purpose of these fields is that the data in them are dynamic – they will update depending on the other fields of the same type in the document. If I open up this document tomorrow, the date will have updated to "06 January 2026". "Table 1" will become "Table 2" if another table is added before it, and reference 1 will be renumbered as appropriate. Toggling Field CodesIf you right click on one of these shaded fields, you will be given the option to "Toggle Field Codes":  You can also select the field and press Shift + F9. This shows or hides the code for just that field. If you want to toggle the field codes for the entire document, press Alt + F9. This will show every field’s code throughout your document — or hide them again if they’re already showing What are field codes?Field codes are the instructions Word uses to generate content that can change. The shaded fields are the result of the hidden code that you can see when you toggle the field code. Field codes are enclosed in curly brackets – not the ordinary curly brackets that you type from the keyboard, but special field markers that Word inserts when you add a field.  You can insert fields yourself by going to the Quick Parts icon on the Insert tab and selecting "Field":  As you can see, there are quite a few types to choose from! Converting a Field to Plain TextOnce you've finished updating your document, it's probably a good idea to convert the fields to plain text. To convert one field, put the cursor in the field and press CTRL + Shift + F9. To convert the entire document, select it with CTRL +A, then press CTRL + Shift + F9. Once you have converted your fields to plain text, you can't convert them back again – so be careful! Good luck – hopefully this has been helpful and I have finally written out all the keyboard shortcuts for fields in one place!
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AuthorAndrea at Yours Truleigh Editing Archives
January 2026
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