How to automatically duplicate information in a Word document

Word 2016
A lot of Word documents contain repeated information especially legal documents such as contracts, agreements, invoices, etc. They all contain details of one or two parties that should be repeated two or more times. You can easily create a document with all necessary information in one place and add some special fields for duplicated information:

For example:

  • The main information block:
    The main information block in Word 365
  • The body:
    The document body in Word 365

    * * *

    The document body in Word 365

In this example, the date of the document is added once at the top of the document and Word repeatedly inserted it into other places.

Thus, you will avoid mistakes in this repeated data and save your time!

To create a document with fields for repeated information, do the following:

   1.   Create a bookmark.

   1.1.   Select the text that should be repeated.

Instead of the text, you can select a place where you would like to add some text in future. For example, an empty line or several spaces in the text.

   1.2.  On the Insert tab, in the Links group, click the Bookmark button:

Bookmark in Word 365

   1.3.   In the Bookmark dialog box, in the Bookmark name field, type the name of the new bookmark and click the Add button (bookmark name should be started from the letter, and contain just letters, numbers and an underscore):

The Bookmark dialog box in Word 365

Notes:

  1. Be careful! Only information defined as a bookmark (between square grey brackets) will be repeated. So, you need to see all bookmarks to avoid mistakes and loose them. See How to show/hide bookmarks in a Word document. If the checkbox Show bookmarks is selected, user-defined bookmarks are indicated by heavy square gray brackets:
    Bookmark in the document Word 365

    A single-point bookmark has the brackets reversed so that it looks like a capital I.

  2. To delete any bookmark, do one of the following:
    1. Just select text inside the bookmark and delete it. If you select all text of the bookmark (between square grey brackets), this deletes the bookmark with the selected text.
    2. Click the Bookmark button in the Link group on the Insert tab.

      In the Bookmark dialog box, select the bookmark that you want to delete and click the Delete button:

    Bookmark dialog box in Word 365

   2.   Create a cross-reference:

   2.1.   Place the cursor where should be added a copy of the information.

   2.2.   On the Insert tab, in the Links group, click the Cross-reference button:

Cross-reference in Word 365

   2.3.   In the Cross-reference dialog box:

  • In the Reference type drop-down list, select Bookmark:
    Cross-reference dialog box in Word 365
  • In the For which bookmark list, select the bookmark that you want to add.
  • Click the Insert button:
Cross-references in document body Word 365

And even more:

Cross-references 2 in document body Word 365

Notes:

  1. In the Term of Agreement section, the date should be current date plus 1 year. You can add a formula to calculate a year (see Formulas and functions in a Word document) Formula in document Word 365:
    Cross-references with formula in Word 365
  2. To update fields after changes any bookmark:
    • Select these fields, paragraphs with these fields or entire document by clicking Ctrl+A.
    • Right-click on any of the fields and choose Update field in the popup menu:
    Update Field in popup menu Word 365

See also this tip in French: Comment dupliquer automatiquement des informations dans le document Word.

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