Using Automatic Cross-References

Apache OpenOffice 4.1 Writer Guide

Chapter 14: Working With Fields

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• Introduction to Fields
• Quick and Easy Field Entry
• Using Document Properties to Hold Metadata and Information That Changes
• Using Other Fields to Hold Information That Changes
• Using AutoText to Insert Often-Used Fields
• Defining Your Own Numbering Sequences
  • Create a Number Range Variable
  • Use AutoText to Insert a Number Range Field
• Using Automatic Cross-References
  • Inserting Cross-References
  • Available Formats
  • Preparing Items as Targets for Cross-Referencing
    • Using Bookmarks
    • Setting References
• Using Fields in Headers and Footers
• Using Fields Instead of Outline Numbering for Appendix Numbering
• Tricks for Working with Fields
  • Keyboard Shortcuts for Fields
  • Fixing the Contents of Fields
  • Converting Fields into Text
• Developing Conditional Content
  • Choose the Types of Conditional Content to Use
    • Conditional Text
    • Hidden Text
    • Hidden Paragraphs
    • Hidden Sections
  • Plan Your Conditional Content
    • Choose or Define a Variable
    • Define a Logical Expression (Condition) Involving the Selected Variable
  • Create the Variable
    • DocInformation Fields
    • User-Defined Variable Field
  • Apply the Condition to the Content
    • Conditional Text
    • Hidden Text
    • Hidden Paragraphs
    • Hidden Sections
  • Change the Value of the Variable
• Using Placeholder Fields
• Using Input Fields and Input Lists

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Using Automatic Cross-References

If you type in cross-references to other parts of the document, those references can easily get out of date if you reword a heading, add or remove figures, or reorganize topics. Replace any typed cross-references with automatic ones and, when you update fields, all the references will update automatically to show the current wording or page numbers.

Some people use Writer’s Hyperlink feature for cross-references, but it has a major disadvantage: the visible text of the hyperlink does not change if you change the text of the item to which it links. For that reason, you are advised to use cross-references in most situations. The exception is when you are creating a document to be saved as HTML; cross-references do not become hyperlinks in an HTML document.

The Cross-references tab of the Fields dialog box (Figure 9) lists some items, such as headings, numbered paragraphs, and bookmarks. If figure captions, table captions, user-defined number range variables, and some other items have been defined in a document, that type also appears in the list.

Figure 9: The Cross-references page of the Fields dialog box