[Jose Valdes]

The following format switches are giving me inconsistent results in MS Word
2003: \* MERGEFORMAT and \* Charformat.

I use two character styles, 2400 and 3000, based on product model numbers to
hide and show text. For example, if I print the 2400 manual, I format the
3000 character style as hidden text. The problem is that if I apply a
character style to a cross-reference (ref field), the ref does not
consistently keep the character style when the result of the field changes.
For example, if the result of the ref is "Product", only part of the result
of the ref field keeps the character style when it changes to something
longer like "Product Information". Maybe the word Product will keep the
character style, but Information will not.

Another annoyance of Charformat is that if I change which character style is
hidden and which is shown, some ref fields lose the character style. I know
that I have seen this problem with Charformat, but I'm not sure about
MERGEFORMAT.

Does anyone know how to get one or both of these format switches to work
properly? I feel like I am using these switches exactly as they are
documented by Microsoft.

Currently, I use MERGEFORMAT exclusively and I re-apply character styles to
ref fields when they change their values. Unless I can get these switches to
work properly, I plan to write a VBA script that will automate re-applying
these formats.
Thanks! Jose