Word 2003 Header and Footer Field Refresh for Multiple Section Documents

In Word, you can insert a lot of properties information into the Headers and Footers.  Most commonly Page Numbers is used.  There are built in properties such as FILENAME.  In addition under File->Properties; Custom– you can add your own properties.  All of these can be inserted directly into the headers and footers.  In Word 97 and Word 2000 when you first opened the document, Word would automatically refresh that information for you.

In Word 2002 and Word 2003, that information is not automatically refreshed.  It will display old information until you:

1) Switch View mods under the View menu
2) Print the document
3) Right click on a field and select “Update Field“

Microsoft documents this behavior in KB832897: The FILENAME field does not automatically update when you open a document in Word 2002 or Word 2003 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/832897/en-us)

In there they provide code for a macro that will run each time the document is opened and refresh all the fields in the headers and footers.  The macro works well— but if you have multiple sections in your document, only the first section is refreshed. 

Below is a modified macro that will handle documents with multiple sections.  Follow all the instructions in the Microsoft article, but use the following code instead:

Sub AutoOpen()
 Dim aStory As Range
 Dim aField As Field
 Dim aSection As Section
 Dim aHeaderFooter As HeaderFooter

 For Each aSection In ActiveDocument.Sections
     For Each aHeaderFooter In aSection.Headers
         Set aStory = aHeaderFooter.Range
   
         For Each aField In aStory.Fields
             aField.Update
         Next aField
     Next aHeaderFooter
   
     For Each aHeaderFooter In aSection.Footers
         Set aStory = aHeaderFooter.Range
       
         For Each aField In aStory.Fields
             aField.Update
         Next aField
     Next aHeaderFooter
 Next aSection
 
End Sub

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