About Fields

Fields are used for data that changes in a document, such as the current date or the total number of pages in a document.

Viewing Fields

Fields consist of a field name and the field content. To switch the field display between the field name or the field content, choose View - Field Names.

To display or hide field highlighting in a document, choose View - Field Shadings. To permanently disable this feature, choose Tools - Options - OpenOffice.org - Appearance, and clear the check box in front of Field shadings.

To change the color of field shadings, choose Tools - Options - OpenOffice.org - Appearance, locate the Field shadings option, and then select a different color in the Color setting box.

Field Properties

Most field types in a document, including database fields, store and display variable values.

The following field types execute an action when you click the field:

Field Type	Property
Placeholder	Opens a dialog to insert the object for which the placeholder was set.
Insert Reference	Moves the mouse pointer to the reference.
Run macro	Runs a macro.
Input Field	Opens a dialog to edit the contents of the field.

Placeholder, hidden text, insert reference, variable, database, and user-defined fields display a help tip when you rest the mouse pointer over the field in a document. To enable this feature, ensure that the Extended Tips option is selected in the Help menu.