WD: Formatting Lost After Updating LINK and INCLUDETEXT Field

• Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, versions 6.0, 6.0.1
• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
• Microsoft Word for Windows NT, version 6.0
• Microsoft Word for Windows 95, version 7.0

SYMPTOMS

When linking two Word documents together using a LINK or INCLUDETEXT field, the document containing the field loses paragraph and/or character formatting after updating that field.

CAUSE

Text from the source document may have been deleted or added. When Word encounters a change in paragraph or character formatting, formatting of the preceding paragraph or word is applied to the following paragraph or word.

STATUS

Microsoft is researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

WORKAROUND

Remove the \* MERGEFORMAT switch from the LINK or INCLUDETEXT field then update the field by pressing F9.

MORE INFORMATION

In general, if you paste a linked object as RTF text, it first displays with the same formatting as in the source application. If you change the text formatting of the object in Word and then reformat the source, the Word formatting prevails because of the "\* mergeformat" switch in the LINK field. The actual data in the object changes to reflect the source.