In WORD headers, I use the "filename" function in every file. Of
course, it's supposed to change when the actual file name is
modified--that's its purpose in life, and that's why I don't put a
hard-coded file name up there.

This used to work properly. It's stopped, though--and that's true of
old files and new ones. If I rename a file externally, then when I
open it, I should see the new name in the heading. But I see the old
name, which has somehow gotten hard-coded (?), despite that function. So I
have to delete that name, and then I re-input the function. (At this
point I could simply hard-code the name, yes; but at least entering
the function is a menu thing and lets me skip typing the name. Also, I
guess I've been assuming that I can somehow get the function to work
again, so I might as well have it there, in all my headings.)

What's going on here, and how can I get the function to work again?
It's just as crucial that it work on old files as on new ones. In
fact, that's MORE important. I probably open 20 old files for every
new one, and I often re-name files. Constantly re-doing headings is a
big slowup and a pain in the neck.

I have word 2000 and i dont have this problem.

What version do you have?

If you update to word 2000 the function work when you change the file
is renamed externally.

I have Word 2002--but I don't see how that can matter. (?) If a
function shows up in whatever version of WORD, it should work...or it
wouldn't be much of a function!

(Woody Allen said 90% of life is just showing up, but I don't see how
that can  apply to computer functions.)

MMM. i HAVE WORD 2002 on windows 2000 and in other computer i it have
on windows xp and i can't reply your problem, the function work
prefectly. I think you have to reinstall word, because some program
that you install before could be damage word.

Good suggestion, and you may be right. WORD may indeed be
damaged--thanks for the thought!

(I would still like to know what any others think, though.)

Please try this.  right click on the "filename" field and in the popup
menu select "update field".  Let me know if that works, if so then the
problem is that it's not set to auto update.

to reflector-8: 

If that's it, then -- where do I tell it to "auto-update"? (I'll
search WORD help, but sometimes that doesn't work, so I'd appreciate a
reply, if you see this, thanks!).

But--maybe there IS no way to tell it to auto-update, since it should
do so automatically.

(I know that WORD is full of anomalies, but this would be a really
egregious one, I think. If you insert the {Filename} variable, rather
than hard-coding the actual filename--well, obviously you DO want it
to auto-update. Otherwise, you could simply have hard-coded the
filename. So by default, that variable should automatically update.
Otherwise it serves no purpose whatsoever...Thus, there may be no
"auto-update y/n" choice, since that seems unnecessary...  Or am I
missing something?)

A P.S. to my last: I just looked at the header-insert options again,
and see that the variable you can insert--Filename, "page x of y,"
etc.--are all called "autotext," which does suggest that their
automatic variability is built in. I'm not being sarcastic, since I
know that sometimes WORD is not so logical as that; so I'll keep
searching, just in case.