If you type in cross-references to other parts of the document, those references can easily get out of date if you reword a heading, add or remove figures, or reorganize topics. Replace any typed cross-references with automatic ones and, when you update fields, all the references will update automatically to show the current wording or page numbers.

Some people use Writer’s Hyperlink feature for cross-references, but it has the major disadvantage that the visible text of the hyperlink does not change if you change the text of the item to which it links. For that reason, you are advised to use cross-references in most situations. The exception is when you are creating a document to be saved as HTML; cross-references do not become hyperlinks in an HTML document.

The Cross-references page of the Fields dialog box lists some items, such as headings, numbered paragraphs, and bookmarks. If figure captions, table captions, user-defined number range variables, and some other items have been defined in a document, that type also appears in the list.

The Cross-references page of the Fields dialog box