Introduction to fields

Fields are extremely useful features of Writer. They are used for a variety of purposes; for example, data that changes (such as the current date or the total number of pages) or might change (the name of a product or book under development), user-defined numbering sequences, automatic cross-references, and conditional content (words or paragraphs that are visible or printed in some conditions but not others). Index entries are also fields.

This chapter describes some common uses of fields. A full discussion of fields and their use is beyond the scope of this book. Power users can find more details in the application Help.

Fields have a gray background when viewed on screen, unless you have deselected the Field shadings option or changed the color of field shadings on the Appearance page of the Options – OpenOffice.org dialog box. This gray background will not show when you print the file to hardcopy or PDF. To turn field shadings on or off quickly, choose View > Field Shadings or press Control+F8.