Cross-references in Word – easier and smarter than ever

DocTools CrossReferenceManager is the perfect, time-saving cross-reference tool for anyone who uses Word for writing contracts, scientific reports, technical reports, technical specifications, user manuals, academic dissertations, patent drafting and other types of documents in which cross-references are needed.

Watch the short video below and read on to learn how DocTools CrossReferenceManager can help you.

Documents can include a mixture of cross-references created using DocTools CrossReferenceManager and Word's built-in functionality
A cross-reference in Word is a field, i.e. set of codes that instructs Word to automatically insert material into a document – click here if you want to learn more about how cross-reference fields work.

Once you have inserted cross-references in a document using DocTools CrossReferenceManager, those cross-references will work precisely as if they had been inserted using Word's built-in functionality. This means that users who don't have DocTools CrossReferenceManager installed can work with your documents as they would normally do.

Help and tips are built into the add-in

Below is a short description of some of the special features that are included in DocTools CrossReferenceManager to make your work with cross-references in Word more efficient. You will find more details below.

Also, take a look at the Cross-reference Tools menu that is illustrated above and you will get an idea of the number of features.

SPECIAL FEATURE 1 – Custom cross-reference texts

You can save language-specific custom cross-reference texts that contain placeholders for multiple cross-reference fields. You can insert any of your custom cross-reference texts, including all the cross-references, with a single click. See the cross-reference example below (field shading is turned on to make it easy to identify fields):

SPECIAL FEATURE 2 – Insert cross-references to headings based on selected text

The Insert Cross-reference dialog box lets you filter target items. This is a real time saver. You can quickly reduce the list of target items to precisely the one you need.

NEW in version 2.6 – Filter feature now even more efficient

You can now set the Filter field as the default field for even faster selection. You can filter target items to show all Heading / outline levels or only level 1, 1-2, 1-3, or 1-4.

You can not only insert cross-references to target items supported by the built-in cross-reference functionality in Word. You can easily insert cross-references to headings that have not had one of the Heading 1-9 styles applied to them.

Any paragraph that has been applied outline level 1-9 will automatically be listed as a target item. This means that you do not need to manually add a bookmark to such heading in order to cross-reference it.

You can insert cross-references to only the caption number of a caption (without the label). This makes it easy to create cross-references like e.g. "See Figures 12 to 15" where the last item shows the number only.

You can automatically apply a character style to cross-references you insert. A command also lets you apply a character style to all cross-reference fields in the entire document in one operation. This is a fast and easy way to make sure the formatting is consistent. Or you can reset the formatting of all cross-reference fields if you change your mind.

You can use Check and Repair Cross-references command as your cross-reference checker. It checks the document for errors in cross-reference bookmarks and cross-reference fields. The command also provides tools for repairing any cross-reference errors found. In addition, the add-in includes functionality that can prevent certain types of errors such as cross-references pointing to number 0 (zero).

You can define default settings that will be used as the initial settings in all documents the first time you insert a cross-reference. The Insert Cross-reference dialog box will then open with those settings already selected. You can change the default settings whenever you wish.

Once you have inserted a cross-reference in a specific document, the document will remember your latest cross-reference settings used in that document the next time you open the dialog box. Furthermore, the document will remember the different settings you made for each type of cross-reference. Even the target item you selected will be remembered so it is easy to insert more cross-references to the same target item.

You can resize the Insert Cross-reference dialog box so you can see more target items and longer target items. The dialog box will remember both its size and position – even between Word sessions.

The above are just examples of special features – there are a lot of other features. You will find more details about the cross-reference features below. See also the comparison of features in DocTools CrossReferenceManager and Word's built-in cross-reference features above.

NEW in version 3.1 – performance improvements: Faster loading of the Insert Cross-reference dialog box.

About the Insert Cross-reference command

It is fast and easy to insert a cross-reference. Simply click where you want the cross-reference and select Insert Cross-reference. The first time you select this command, you will be asked to fill in the Set Cross-reference Defaults dialog box so the Insert Cross-reference dialog box can open with the defaults you want. 

TIP: You can also open the Insert Cross-reference dialog box using the keyboard shortcut Alt+Ctrl+Shift+X or by selecting the command from the right-click menu:

The Insert Cross-reference dialog box lets you define everything in relation to the cross-reference(s) you are going to insert:

You can use the Filter target items field to quickly reduce the list of target items instead of trying to find a specific target item in a long list:

Note that the straight quotes in the selected custom text have been automatically converted to smart quotes because the Smart quotes in custom text option was turned on.

About the Set Cross-reference Defaults command

Via the Set Cross-reference Defaults dialog box, you can define the settings you want as the initial defaults for all documents. Those settings will automatically be preselected the first time you insert a cross-reference via the Insert Cross-reference command in a specific document, if applicable.

In addition, the General settings group in the dialog box lets you apply other settings that are helpful. You will find details about how it works in the dialog box itself and in Help in CrossReferenceManager.

As also explained in the dialog box, once you have inserted a cross-reference of a specific type in a document, the document will remember the settings you selected most recently for that type of cross-reference in that document and automatically offer those specific settings as the defaults for new cross-references of the same type. 

About adding and editing custom texts – allowing you to insert multiple cross-references at a time

You can save language-specific custom texts for headings and for captions. You can save up to 200 custom texts for each type and for each language – that is most likely more than you would ever need.

The custom cross-reference texts you define are stored in a configuration file locally on your computer. If more users need the same custom cross-reference texts, you can replace the configuration file on one computer with a copy of the file that includes the custom cross-reference texts that were set up on another computer. This way, you can make sure that a whole group of users can easily use cross-references consistently both within and across documents.

The illustrations below show the dialog boxes for adding/editing customs texts for headings and captions, respectively. The placeholders you can insert differ but except from that, the dialog boxes work the same way. You open the dialog boxes illustrated below via the Define Custom Cross-reference Texts command. The initial dialog box that opens will list all currently defined custom texts for the language you select. It also lets you delete and rearrange the custom texts (that dialog box is not illustrated here).

You can use the Insert special character buttons to easily insert nonbreaking spaces, nonbreaking hyphens, En dashes, Em dashes, line breaks and tab characters in custom texts.

See also the comparison of features in DocTools CrossReferenceManager and Word's built-in cross-reference features above.