Tutorials

Undefined marker in Word

Multiple Microsoft Office users report that they are receiving the message “Error! Undefined marker” when they try to convert a Doc file to PDF using Microsoft Word. When this happens, each page number of each item in the Index changes from page number to »¡Error! Bookmark not defined "This particular problem has been reported to occur with multiple versions of Office (Office 2010 y Office 2013) and with different versions of Windows (Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10).

“¡Error! Marker not defined »

What is causing the error “Undefined marker”?

We investigated this particular topic by examining various user reports and commonly used repair strategies in this scenario.. Based on what we have collected, there are a couple of different scenarios that will trigger this particular error message:

One or more markers are missing: In most cases, the error occurs because Microsoft Word relies on bookmarks to create the multi-section table of contents. If one or more markers cannot be found, this particular error message will appear.
Bookmarks are out of date: if you are working with a semi-manual ToC, Table of Contents entries may not update automatically unless you give the go-ahead to fix broken bookmark entries. To do this, you will need to select the ToC and press the F9 key.
The marker entries are broken: if your .doc file contains a bunch of broken links that end up causing this particular problem, the most efficient way to get rid of the problem is to convert the entire TOC to static text.

If you are currently looking for ways to resolve the error “Undefined marker”, this article will provide you with several different troubleshooting steps. Next, You will find several different methods that other users in a similar scenario have used successfully to solve the problem and convert your .doc files to PDF without encountering the error message.

Since the methods listed below are ordered by efficiency and severity, We recommend that you follow them in the order they are presented to minimize troubleshooting time..

Method 1: use the Undo command

If you get this error when trying to use a table of contents (heel) automated, one or more fields are likely to contain a broken link leading to a bookmark.

If you see the message «Error!! Undefined marker '. immediately after generating the TOC and you have not yet saved the document, you can easily restore the original text by pressing the Ctrl key combination + Z immediately.

Using the Undo command

You can also access the Undo function using the ribbon menu at the top of the screen. After reversing the action, fix any broken bookmark links before trying to convert the document to a PDF file one more time.

If this method did not allow you to skip the “Error! Undefined marker”, go to next method.

Method 2: replace missing bookmarks

If your document does not use the built-in heading styles or if you have made relatively new changes that ended up causing the error '¡Error!! Undefined marker '. , you can most likely solve the problem by transforming your table of contents into a semi-manual list and replacing the missing bookmarks (or changing the references from within).

Here is a quick guide on how to do this:

Inside your version of Word, go to TOC section and right click on an entry that displays the message “¡Error! Undefined marker. Then select Toggle Field Codes from the context menu. Toggle the field code of the Failing Table of Contents entry
After doing this, you will see the field codes behind the marker. HYPERLINK (o PAGEREF) is the name of the bookmark that the field is currently pointing to. Regardless of the type of ticket, the bookmark no longer exists in the document (that's why the problem is found). To solve the problem, use the ribbon menu to select Insert> Bookmark and create a new bookmark with the old name. Add the missing marker

Note: an entry like PAGEREF / HYPERLINK $ 0027 The name of the bookmark $ 0027 points to a hand-inserted marker, while an entry like PAGEREF / HYPERLINK $ 0027Ref33958203840 $ 0027 points to a hidden bookmark created by a cross-reference dialog.
Once all missing or damaged markers have been repaired, try converting the document to PDF one more time and see if the problem is resolved.

If you still find the “Error! Undefined marker”, scroll down to next method below. +

Method 3: force index update

If the Method 1 and the Method 2 have enabled you to identify broken TOC entries and fix them, you can restore TOC auto update feature by pressing F9 while Table of Contents is selected.

Several affected users have reported that the TOC has started to update normally after they removed the broken bookmark links and pressed the F9 key. Try doing this and see if it can solve your problem.

If the message «Error! Undefined marker. it keeps happening, go to next method.

Method 4: convert TOC to static text

If your table of contents has a lot of broken links and you are not prepared to correct each entry, a quick fix for the «Error! Undefined marker. is to convert the automated index to static text. This will clear the error and allow you to override the “Error! Undefined marker” with your own text.

To convert OCD (Table of Contents) in a completely static text, just select the TOC and press Ctrl + Shift + F9. After doing this, all entries in the table of contents will be transformed into static text that you can edit at your convenience.

Transform the table of contents function to static text