A Bit of Snow

I trust that your winter is going well and that you are able to enjoy whatever Mother Nature has in store for you. In our area, the weather took a turn for the colder this past week. We even received about 2 inches of snow.

The snowfall was a relief, as snow has been conspicuously and entirely absent from our area this winter. As the old saying goes, "better late than never." Even so, the amount of snow we've received has been far, far below normal. We normally have 25-30 inches by this point in the season, but we've only had 2. (As I said, far, far below normal.)

I hope that you find the tips in this week's newsletter helpful.

—Allen

WordTips (ribbon) for 21 February 2026

Unlinking All Headers and Footers

If your document contains a lot of section, it can be tedious to unlink all of the headers and footers for those sections. This tip provides a quick way you can do the unlinking in a single step.

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(Thanks to Michael Avidan (MVP) and BJ Witkin for contributing to this tip.)

Adding a Dynamic Total in Your Document

You can use a few bookmarks and an equation field to add a dynamic total anywhere in your document. Once in place, you can change any of the amounts, and the total is updated the next time the field results are updated.

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Fantastic Fields!

At last count Word provides 75 dynamic field codes you can use to add everything from page numbers to hyperlinks to your documents. Discover the ins and outs of the vast majority of Word's powerful field codes.

Leading Spaces in Document File Names

If you try to add spaces to the beginning of a document's file name, Word normally strips them away. This tip examines two ways you can add those spaces back to the beginning of your file names.

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Printing a List of Building Blocks

Building Blocks are a great way to semi-automate the creation of common documents. At some point you may want to get a printed list of all your Building Blocks, for reference purposes.

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WordTips YouTube Channel

Do you like to learn visually? Make sure you check out the WordTips YouTube channel. New videos are added weekly. (I typically try to add them on Tuesdays and Thursdays.)

New video: Pictures Move on their Own
Insert some pictures into a document and you may be in for a surprise--they don't necessarily stay where you put them. Depending on how you add pictures and what formatting you apply, your pictures may move around a document the same way that your text can. In this video I show you how to make pictures stay where you put them.

New video: Repeating Your Typing
Want a quick way to repeat a word or phrase you just typed? Here's the shortcut you need.

Help Wanted

This section is for those having problems making Word behave. If Word is giving you fits, feel free to submit your own Help Wanted question.

If you have a solution for the problems below, click the link after the problem to send us your answer. (All responses become the sole property of Sharon Parq Associates, Inc., and can be used in any way deemed appropriate.) If your response is used in a future issue, you will be credited for your contribution to the answer.

Restrictions on Hyperlinks

I can easily add a hyperlink in my document by using the Ctrl+K shortcut. If I later try to use the hyperlink (Ctrl+Click), I get a message that says "This operation has been canceled due to restrictions on this computer. Please contact your system administrator." I'm the only one using this computer, so I guess I'm the admin. However, I haven't the slightest idea of how to fix this.
—Barry Gold (provide an answer for this Help Wanted question)

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