How to Show or Hide Microsoft Word Field Codes

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Microsoft Word can embed special items in Word documents called field codes. Fields in Microsoft Word are used as placeholders for data that might change in a document, and for creating form letters and labels in mail-merge documents. These kinds of fields are also called field codes, and they are different from the type of fields that are used to enter information, such as on a form.

Accidentally turning on field codes can be a nuisance while creating Word templates. When this happens, all of the Tags in your Word template will appear like this:

For Word 2007 and later, just press the key combination Alt+F9.

For earlier versions of Word, follow these steps:

• Open the document where the field codes are displayed.
• Press Alt+F9 to turn off field codes currently on the page. To turn off a field code for a specific field, click on the field and press Shift+F9 instead.
• Click the Office button and select "Word Options" to turn off field codes by default.
• Select the "Advanced" tab in the "Word Options" window.
• Scroll to the "Show document content" section. Deselect "Show field codes instead of their values" and click "OK."