MORE INFORMATION
Changes to the Default Behavior of Affected Fields
After you install the Word Update, the default behavior of some
fields in Word documents is changed in certain scenarios. For the purpose of
documenting these behavior changes in this article, the affected fields are
grouped into one of following three groups: the Link Group, the Picture Group,
and the Text Group.
The following is a list of all the affected
fields and what group they belong to:
- Link Group: the LINK field and the SUBSCRIBE field.
- Picture Group: the IMPORT field and the INCLUDEPICTURE field.
- Text Group: the INCLUDETEXT field, the DDE field, the INCLUDE field, and the
DATABASE field.
Default Behaviors of Link Group Fields
If you open a document that contains a field that is in the Link Group after you apply the Word Update, you receive the following message:
This document contains one or more links to other files.
Do you want to update this document with the data from the linked files?
Note If you clicked to clear the
Update automatic Links at
open setting on the
General tab in the
Tools
Options dialog box, the message does not appear. When this
setting is not selected, fields are not updated when the document is
opened.
If you click
Yes in the message, all
the fields in the Link Group that are in the document are updated and become
"live," meaning that if the source data ever changes, the fields are
automatically updated without any user intervention required.
If you
click
No in the message, all the fields in the Link
Group that are in the document are not updated and become "static," meaning
that if the source data ever changes, the fields are not automatically updated.
If you insert a new link in the document by using one of fields from the Link
Group after you click
No in the message, the link is
created, but if the source data ever changes, the link is not automatically
updated.
Note If you click
No in the message, you still
have the option to manually update linked fields. To do this, select the field
that you want to update, and then press F9 (or right-click the field, and then
click
Update Field).
Default Behaviors of the Text Group Fields
By default, the Text Group fields do not re-calculate without
direct user intervention after you apply the Word Update. To manually update a
field, select the field that you want, and then press F9 (or right-click the
field, and then click
Update Field).
Default Behaviors of the Picture Group Fields
By default, the Picture Group fields do not re-calculate without
direct user intervention after you apply the Word Update. To manually update a
field, select the field that you want, and then press F9 (or right-click the
field, and then click
Update Field).
The INCLUDEPICTURE Field Behavior Exception When It Is Used with the \d Switch
You can change the default behavior of the
INCLUDEPICTURE field to allow the field to automatically re-calculate when a
document is opened by using the
\d switch. When the
\d switch is included, the INCLUDEPICTURE field does not store the
contents that it links to inside the Word document that the INCLUDEPICTURE
field resides in, and as a result, data cannot be gathered from alternate
locations and stored in the document when the field is re-calculated. The
following are scenarios where the
\d switch may be used:
- Using pictures as bullets in filtered HTML
format.
- Using pictures that are links to remote files, such as a
link to a .gif file posted to the Web.
The field code for an INCLUDEPICTURE field using the \d switch
is similar to the following field code:
{INCLUDEPICTURE "\\\\server\\share\\user\\Includetext\\picture.gif" \* MERGEFORMAT \d}
Note When you open a document that contains an INCLUDEPICTURE field
that is used with the
\d switch, and you have installed the Word Update and set the
FieldCalcSecurityLevel registry key to
2 as described in the "The Functionality That Is Added to Control
the New Default Field Behaviors" section of this article, you override the
\d switch. In this scenario, the INCLUDEPICTURE field never
re-calculates and the link is effectively broken.
The Functionality That Is Added to Control the New Default Field Behaviors
The Word Update permits you to use the
FieldCalcSecurityLevel registry key. The
FieldCalcSecurityLevel registry key permits you to modify the default behavior of the
Word fields that are described in this article.
Note The
FieldCalcSecurityLevel registry key is not automatically created when you install the
Word Update. To use the
FieldCalcSecurityLevel registry key, manually create the registry key by using the steps
in this article.
You can use the
FieldCalcSecurityLevel registry key to configure the default behavior of Word fields in
the following manner:
- Level 0 - Word reverts to the previous field behavior.
- Level 1 - Word uses the field behaviors that are documented in this
article.
- Level 2 - Word never re-calculates the fields in the Text Group or the
Picture Group. The fields in the Link Group behave as described in the
beginning of this article, but if you click No when you receive the message to set the link behavior,
links in the Link Group are not re-calculated even when you try to manually
re-calculate them.
Note After you install the Word Update, you cannot remove it. The Word
Update changes the default behavior of some Word fields. If you want the Word
fields to behave as they did before you installed the Word Update, set the
FieldCalcSecurityLevel registry key to
0.
Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious
problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft
cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry
Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
After you install the Word Update, use the
FieldCalcSecurityLevel registry key if you want to change the default behavior of the
fields that are described in this article. To do this:
- Quit Word if it is running.
- Click Start, and then click
Run.
- In the Open box, type
regedit, and then click OK.
- Locate and then select the registry key that is appropriate
to your version of Word:
- For Microsoft Office XP or Microsoft Word
2002:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Word\Options
The following is the corresponding policy key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Word\Options - For Microsoft Office 2000 or Microsoft Word
2000:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Word\Options
The following is the corresponding policy key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Word\Options - For Microsoft Word 97 for Windows or Microsoft Word 98
for Windows Japanese:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Word\Options
Note The Japanese versions of Word 97 for Windows and Word 98 for
Windows do not have a corresponding policy key.
- Verify that the following key exists. If it does, go to
step 6.
FieldCalcSecurityLevel
If the key path does not exist, create the key. To
create the key use the appropriate steps for your version of Word.
- For Word 2002 and Microsoft Word 2000:
- On the Edit menu, click
New, and then click DWORD Value.
- Type the following name for the new value:
- Press the ENTER key.
- For Word 97 and Word 98 Japanese:
- On the Edit menu, click
New, and then click String Value.
- Type the following name for the new value:
- Press ENTER.
- Right-click the FieldCalcSecurityLevel
registry key, and then click Modify.
- In the Value data box, enter one of the
following numeric settings: 0, 1, or 2.
Note For a detailed description of what effect these numeric values
have on the Word fields that are described in this article, see the beginning
of this section. - When you are finished, click
OK.
- Exit Registry Editor.
- Restart the computer.
Note The policy keys that are mentioned in this article only work when
used under
HKEY_CURRENT_USER, and do not work when used under
HKEY_CURRENT_MACHINE. To make sure that this key effects all users on a workstation,
set the policy key for each user who logs on to the workstation.
How the Word Update Affects Automation
When a macro is used to open a document with a field that has the
new default settings and that is from the Text Group or the Picture Group, Word
automatically updates the fields. Because macros can be signed and trusted,
this remains a safe scenario. To prevent even signed macros from updating these
fields automatically, set the
FieldCalcSecurityLevel registry key value to
2.
When a macro opens a document with a field that has
the new default settings and that is from the Link Group, the message
that is described in the "Default Behaviors of Link Group Fields " section of
this article appears. This message may break some Automation scenarios.
When running trusted macros, you can suppress the new message by setting
the
DisplayAlerts property to
wdAlertsNone. If you suppress the message by setting the
DisplayAlerts property to
wdAlertsNone in this scenario, the message does not appear while running
Automation, the fields still update, and you are still protected in the typical
use of Word.
To prevent fields in the Link Group from updating during
Automation, set the
FieldCalcSecurityLevel registry key value to
2. If you suppress the message by setting the
DisplayAlerts property to
wdAlertsNone in this scenario, the message does not appear while running
Automation, and the fields are not updated either through Automation or through
the typical use of Word.
For additional information
about how to use the 'DisplayAlerts' property, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
259971
How to dismiss a dialog box displayed by an Office application with Visual Basic
The following tables detail the possible outcomes
that can occur when using
DisplayAlerts property settings and the
FieldCalcSecurityLevel registry key settings in various combinations.
Automation Scenarios (wdAlertsNone)
| FieldCalcSecurityLevel | DisplayAlerts=wdAlertsNone |
| 0 | Message does not appear and Link Group fields
update automatically. |
| 1 | Message is suppressed and Link Group Fields
update. |
| 2 | Message is suppressed and Link Group Fields
do not update. |
Automation Scenarios (wdAlertsAll or wdAlertsMessageBox)
| FieldCalcSecurityLevel | DisplayAlerts=wdAlertsAll or
wdAlertsMessageBox |
| 0 | Message does not appear and Link Group
fields update automatically. |
| 1 | Message appears and defaults to Yes. Links
behave as indicated by the user's choice. |
| 2 | Message appears and defaults to No. Links
behave as indicated by the user's choice. |