Microsoft Word Cross References - stop them updating on print

Question

Cross References are field codes to most intents and purposes, but they do not seem to respect the "Update Fields Before Printing" option. They always update when you print, whether you have this option checked or not.

This behaviour is happening in both Office 2003 and 2010.

So, for instance, if your document has a title, you can insert a Cross Reference pointing to this title. If you then change the text in that title, initially, the cross reference will remain unchanged, even after saving. Also, you can change the text in the actual cross reference. Once you update it though, the cross reference will be changed to match the text in the title.

Is there any way of stopping this update occurring when you print the document?

Answer 1

You could try adding the "MERGEFORMAT" switch to these fields which might work or otherwise try locking the fields before printing.