Updating Selected Formulas in WORD 2013

If the entire table is selected, then F9 should update all the fields within the table. Does that not happen for you?

An alternative -- to update all the fields in the document at once -- is to go to File > Print (the updated fields should be visible in the print preview) and then press Esc to go back to the editing window. This relies on having the option at File > Options > Display > "Update fields before printing" turned on.

When Word doesn't behave in the default way, the usual culprit is an add-in that's interfering. To try to confirm this, start Word in safe mode, which prevents any add-ins from loading (and also doesn't load your Normal.dotm template or any options from the registry). If F9 or the print preview will update all fields in safe mode, you'll need to disable each add-in, one at a time, to find out which one is at fault.

To start in safe mode, the quickest way is to hold down the Ctrl key while clicking Word's icon. Continue to hold the key until a message pops up:

Answer Yes.

Note: Safe mode is a troubleshooting tool, and it isn't meant as a permanent fix for any problem. Once you confirm that a problem is stopped by not loading add-ins, close Word and restart it in regular mode before continuing to investigate.

Do I understand correctly that you can update each individual formula by right-clicking it and clicking Update Field?

One more thing to test:

• Press Alt+F11 to open the macro editor.
• Press Ctrl+G to open the Immediate window at the bottom right of the editor.
• Copy this expression:  ActiveDocument.Fields.Update and paste it into the Immediate window, then press Enter.

Does that update all the formulas?

Yes, the situation is:

1.  I can update a field in my WORD 2013 table by right clicking on the field then clicking on udate field.

2.  By selecting all in the table (cntl A) then pushing f9 nothing happens.

3.  after selecting all as above, then going to Print the preview pane does not show any updates to the fields

4. The document prints with the fields updated.

Just to be a good engineer/scientist I also checked the operation of the button itself.  It works fine in I-tunes.

That was just to clarify the situation.

I tried the most recent suggestion without success.  But do I need to close out the macro pane in some special way before I rerun the updates?  I have not done many macros and those that I did were a while ago.

You don't need to close the macro editor in any special way. You can click its red X button right after trying the command in the Immediate window, or leave it open in the background until later -- when you shut down Word, that will automatically close the macro editor as well.

I admit I'm stumped. The fact that you can update the fields individually means that there's nothing wrong with the fields themselves. I can't think of any mechanism other than an add-in (or possibly a macro in the Normal template) that could make all the other attempts at updating fail. The additional fact that safe mode doesn't help has ruled out the add-in/macro case. The strangest part is that print preview doesn't cause an update but actually printing does; I can't account for that at all.

There is one other question I should have asked much earlier: Does this problem happen in any other documents? If you start with a new blank document, create new tables and build a few formula fields (not copying from the original document), can you update that in any of the ways we've discussed?

If that works, it suggests some corruption in the original document. The article http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm discusses how that happens and some possible fixes.