Return to Index How to Create an ASK Field in Word. An ASK field asks the user to enter information and stores it as a bookmark. An ASK field has 3 mandatory parts and one optional part. The parts must go in sequence and be separated by a space. Mandatory elements for ASK field Optional Element(s) ASK Bookmark "Prompt" [switches] Action Word will ASK the user to input some information. Example: ASK Name A one-word name must be given (a Bookmark) by which the user's input will be stored. Details The exact information you want Word to display in a dialog box to gather the user's input. Options Should the user not enter any information the information specified in quotes will be entered by default. Address02 "Enter the second address line, if any:" /d "" This switch is important in this example if you do not want the user to have to enter information. When we tested this, the user just clicked OK and got an error message before being allowed to continue. Placing the "" as a default enters some information so that no error is returned when the user leaves this blank. Which would be most of the time. 1. Insert an "ask" field. To gather input from a user prior to merge printing a document, insert an "ask" field. With the cursor placed where you want the userís information to be requested, click on the Insert menu. Select Field. 2. Specify "ask" as the field type. Notice the syntax for the ASK field: ASK Bookmark "Prompt" [Switches] How to Use ASK and REF fields in Word Page 1 of 5 How to Create an ASK Field in Word. 3. Replace the word Bookmark with any single word with which to "name" the information the user will provide. Below we will use "Address02", for example, to prompt the user to enter a second address line, if needed. 4. Replace the word "Prompt" with what you want the user to see, the question or fill in the blank that will prompt the user what to enter. 5. If there is a "default" you want to specify, enter /d "" and specify the default within quotation marks. "Enter the second line of the address:" For example, here we might want to add /d " " so if there is no second line for address and the user simply clicks OK button without entering any information, the default (" " a single space) will be entered without returning an error. If nothing is entered, “ERROR REFERENCE NOT FOUND” will appear wherever a REF field is placed. ASK = ASK Bookmark = Address02 Prompt = "Enter the second line of the address:" [Switches] = /d "" 6. Click the OK button and see the Prompt you entered displayed just as the user will see it. How to Use ASK and REF fields in Word Page 2 of 5 7. Enter a value above and click the OK button. Whatever you enter in the blank will appear in the form. Leaving it blank and clicking the OK button will cause “ERROR REFERENCE NOT FOUND” to appear in the document. This does not keep the merge process from working, but when users look at it they think something is wrong with the document. 8. So far we have entered the programming for Word to Ask the user a question and store the user's input in the document as a bookmark. How to Use ASK and REF fields in Word Page 3 of 5 How to Create a REF field to print the results of an ASK field. 1. A REF field prints the results of the ASK field to which it refers. 2. With the cursor placed where you want the results of an ASK field to print, select Insert, Field from the menu. 3. Scroll down the list of Field names on the right and select Ref. 4. In the field above Description and following REF enter the "Bookmark" or name of the ASK field whose results you want to print. How to Use ASK and REF fields in Word Page 4 of 5 How to Create a REF field to print the results of an ASK field. 5. After clicking the OK button, you should see the text in gray appear as below: 6. If you do not see the line above, then go to Tools, Options, View and be sure to place a check mark beside Bookmarks and Field codes. Click the OK button to apply the changes. 7. A REF field can be placed as many times as needed following an ASK field. The results of the ASK field will be printed at every occurrence of the REF field if there are no section breaks between the ASK and REF fields. 8. To view all Formatting marks, select All under that section (see picture at right). This allows you to see tab marks, spaces, paragraph marks, section and page breaks. 9. After the first ASK field, all you need are REF fields that refer to the ASK field everywhere you want the results of the same named ASK field to print. For instance the ASK County “Enter the County” field needs to be used only at the beginning of the document. The REF County fields can go wherever the results of the ASK County field should be printed. 10. This has advantages over the keyboard merge fields in Word Perfect. Users should never have to enter or respond to an ASK field but once in a document even though the result of that response may be used several times throughout the document. How to Use ASK and REF fields in Word Page 5 of 5