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I've done a workaround by putting a bookmark on the last page of the
document, then using a PAGEREF field to that bookmark in the header or
footer instead of NUMPAGES. This workaround has the added benefit of using
the last page number, instead of the total number of pages. If you start
numbering your pages after the title page and TOC, this solution works
great.
This solution works for documents moving back and forth between Word 97 and
Word 2000, and requires no macros or service releases.
> Unfortunately, if you're distributing your document widely, these
> solutions
> probably won't really help you. That is, it won't be practical for every
> user to install SR-1, and instructing users to update fields
> manually or to
> disable background printing seems rather unwieldy to me.
>
> You might be able to write a Word VBA macro that automatically updates
> document fields prior to printing. However, I believe you can distribute
> macros only to users who designate you as a trusted source and/or who set
> their machines to medium or low security in (Word) Tools > Macro
> > Security.
>
> What a nuisance! Up to now, I've dealt with the problem by simply
> not using
> the {NUMPAGES} field in my documents...
>
>