Fix Bookmarks Disappearing After Reopening a Microsoft Word Document

On Windows, open Word and select File > Account > Update Options > Update Now. On macOS, select Help > Check for Updates. If updates are managed by your organization, ask your administrator to check the installed Microsoft 365 build.

Select File > New and create a blank document. Type a short address block, select part of the text, and choose Insert > Bookmark. Enter a name such as AddressBlock and click Add.

Save the test as a .docx file, close it, and reopen it. Go to Insert > Bookmark and check whether AddressBlock is still listed. Repeat with a copy of the affected document to compare the results.

In the affected document, open Insert > Bookmark and enable Hidden bookmarks, if available. Compare the listed bookmarks with the intended cross-reference targets; a cross-reference can point to a hidden bookmark rather than a manually named one.

Open the test copy and select Home > Show/Hide ¶. Identify paragraph marks, section breaks, tables, and other content boundaries before copying.

Select File > New to create a blank document, then copy only the address block known to preserve its bookmarks. Save as .docx, close the file, reopen it, and verify the bookmarks through Insert > Bookmark.

Copy the rest of the original document into the new file in small, identifiable blocks, initially excluding the original final paragraph mark. After each addition, save, close, reopen, and check Insert > Bookmark. If the bookmarks disappear, return to the last working copy and test smaller portions of the newly added block.

Recreate the section that triggers the problem instead of copying it unchanged. Select each intended bookmark range and use Insert > Bookmark > Add. Then use References > Cross-reference to recreate references to those bookmarks, and save and reopen once more.

In Word for Windows, select File > Open > Browse and select the affected test file. Click the arrow beside Open and choose Open and Repair. This option may not be available on other platforms.

Save the repaired file under a new name, close it, and reopen it. Check Insert > Bookmark, then right-click an affected cross-reference and choose Update Field to verify its target.

Create a sanitized sample that reproduces the disappearance and record the exact save, close, and reopen steps. Include the Word version, file format, whether the blank-document test fails, and whether macros or add-ins are involved.

Use Help > Feedback in Word to report the behavior, or contact Microsoft Support through Microsoft's support site. If several people are affected, ask your Microsoft 365 administrator to submit the reproducible sample and affected build details.