How to calculate formulas in a Word document

Word 365
In some Word documents you need to use formulas, such as summing, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing certain values:
Fields in a document Word 2016

In this example was used a simple formula to calculate a discount rate:

Formula in a document Word 2016

See How to turn on or turn off highlighting off fields in a Word document and Show blue hyperlink instead of { HYPERLINK link }.

To create a formula like the one above, it is necessary to make two steps:

   1.   Create a bookmark (variable) for every parameter.

   2.   Create a formula.

To perform these steps, do the following:

   1.   Create a field with the volume of a parameter:

   1.1.   Position the cursor in the document.

It doesn't important, where: where this variable should be shown in the first time or anywhere in the text (see both examples below).

   1.2.   On the Insert tab, in the Text group, select the Quick Parts drop-down list and the click on Field...:

Field in Word 2016

   1.3.   In the Field dialog box:

   1.3.1.   In the Field names list, select the command Set and click the Field Codes button:

Field Code in the Field dialog box Word 2016

   1.3.2.   In the Field codes textbox, after proposed SET type the name of this bookmark (variable) and the value.

For example:

Example of the Field Code in Word 2016

   1.3.3.   Click OK to insert the current field in you document:

Example of the Field in Word 2016

Note: Instead of making steps 1.1-1.3, you can press Ctrl+F9 to insert a field in your document and type:

SET <name> <value>

To create the bookmark (variable) as you type, just update a field: right-click on the field and choose Update field in the popup menu:

Update Field in popup menu Word 2016

   2.   Repeat the step 1 for every bookmark (variable) that you want to define.

In this example, the discount with volume 5.

   3.   To insert the bookmark (variable) in the text, do the following:

   3.1.   Position the cursor where you want to insert the value of some bookmark (variable).

   3.2.   On the Insert tab, in the Text group, select the Quick Parts drop-down list and the click on Field....

   3.3.   In the Field dialog box, click the Formula... button:

Formula in the Field dialog box Word 2016

   3.4.   In the Formula dialog box, in the Paste bookmarks drop-down list, if you made all correctly on the previous steps, you will see all variables that you have created:

Bookmarks in Formula dialog box Word 2016

Choose one and click OK. For example, price:

Example of the bookmark in Formula dialog box Word 2016

Note: Instead of making steps 3.1 – 3.4, if you can press Ctrl+F9 to insert a field in you document and type:

= <bookmark name>

   4.   To insert a formula, do the following:

   4.1.   Position the cursor where you want to insert the formula.

   4.2.   On the Insert tab, in the Text group, select the Quick Parts drop-down list and the click on Field....

   4.3.   In the Field dialog box, click the Formula... button.

   4.4.   In the Formula dialog box type the formula:

The first variant where each of the variables defined before their values in the text:

The first example of the formula in Word 2016

The second variant where the variables defined before the text:

The second example of the formula in Word 2016

See Functions and formulas in a Word document for more details.

Note: The field { SET *** } doesn't shown in the document by default. So, this field can be easily removed by mistake with any other text or paragraph. To avoid missing this field, we recommend use a field { Quote *** } to keep the definition and the first using of the parameter:

The Quote formula in Word 2016

See also this tip in French: Comment calculer des formules dans un document Word.

Please, disable AdBlock and reload the page to continue

Today, 30% of our visitors use Ad-Block to block ads.We understand your pain with ads, but without ads, we won't be able to provide you with free content soon. If you need our content for work or study, please support our efforts and disable AdBlock for our site. As you will see, we have a lot of helpful information to share.