WD: Bookmark Errors in FORMULA or Text Form Fields

ID: Q105899

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

If you define a bookmark whose name has one or two letters plus a number (such as BM1 or ZZ4096) and then insert a FORMULA field that performs a calculation using the bookmark reference, one of the following field errors may appear in place of the field result:

   !Error at <bookmarkname>

   !Error <bookmarkname> is not in table

   !Error at BM1

If the calculation is part of a FORMTEXT (Text Form) field definition, nothing happens when you update the Text Form field, and no result appears.

NOTE: The "!Error <bookmarkname> is not in table" error occurs if the FORMULA field is located in a table.

For example, if you insert and then update the following fields, the field error occurs in place of the FORMULA field:

   {set BM1 1}
   {set BM2 2}
   {=BM1+BM2}

CAUSE

In a FORMULA field, Word considers bookmark names that consist of one or two letters plus a number to be table cell references instead of bookmark names. Cell references take precedence over bookmarks, so if the bookmark does not reference a valid table cell in the document, the FORMULA field yields an error instead of a result.

WORDAROUND

Change the bookmark name so Word no longer thinks it is a table cell reference. For example, change "BM1" to "BAM1", or change "ZZ4096" to "ZZZ4096".

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was corrected in Microsoft Word 97 for Windows and Word 98 Macintosh Edition.

Additional query words: = equals

Keywords          : winword word6 winword2 word7 word95 kbFont macword6 
Version           : WINDOWS:1.0,1.1,1.1a,2.0,2.0a,2.0a- CD,2.0b,2.0c,6.0,6.0a,6.0c,7.0,7.0a;MACINTOSH:6.0,6.0.1,6.0.1a
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: December 23, 1998