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When Inserting a Cross Reference, sometimes Heading section is missing - Any work arounds?

When I go to insert a Cross Reference to a Heading section (in my case, I am using numbered headings, so I would normally insert the Heading Number, then the Heading Text, then the page number (sure wish Word would do this in one step)), there are instances where the Heading Section is not listed at all in the scroll down list.  Microsoft Word seems to somehow get confused, I see the headings above and below the one I'm trying to reference, but not the section in question.  Seems like a bug, but something that's been there forever (currently I'm on Microsoft Word 2011 for Mac, latest available).  Are there any work-arounds to get the missing heading section appear on the insert Cross Reference list?

For example, assume I have sections 1, 2, 3:

1 Section 1

...

2 Section 2

....

3 Section 3

...

Sometimes, when I go to insert a Cross Reference to Section 2, the list will not show it.  I've tried rebuilding the Table of Contents (F9), etc., still not on the list.

Answer
Answer

Because when tracking changes, some headings are "There" and active, and other headings are "Deleted" and not active, but they are still physically present in the document until you resolve all the changes.

Once you start piling changes upon changes with several editors chewing away at a document, the challenge of "What's in and what's out" becomes horrendously convoluted.

Sometimes the only way to sort the document out is to "Accept all changes in the document".

Once you have done that, select all and hit F9 to update all the fields (cross-references etc).  Then eyeball the entire document: there will be several broken cross-references, since the text they targeted has disappeared...

And in some cases, the opening and closing tags of a cross-reference will become damaged and you will get an entire chapter suddenly appear inside a cross-reference.

Best "not" to add cross references until AFTER you have resolved all the tracked changes, if you can.

Hope this helps

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer.

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Last updated April 5, 2024 Views 3,264 Applies to: