Equations and fields are the two kinds of content in RixDocs that compute rather than sit still: an equation renders structured math, and a field — DATE, PAGE, NUMPAGES — pulls its value from the document itself at the moment you view or print it. Both are native .docx features and both live on the Insert tab.
Equations with the EquationModal
To insert math:
- Click in the text where the equation belongs.
- Open the Insert tab and choose Equation. The EquationModal opens.
- Type symbols or pick them from the palette; use the structure templates for fractions, exponents, roots, integrals and matrices.
- Confirm and the equation appears inline, scaled to the surrounding text.
The modal is built for keyboard-first input: type the expression and use the palette only for symbols that are awkward to reach, like the integral sign or the partial derivative. Equations are stored as standard Office math in the .docx, so they open and remain editable in Microsoft Word.
Where equations help
- Homework, lab reports and scientific papers.
- Financial models that need formulas shown inline, not just results.
- Any document where a plain-text approximation like x^2 would be ambiguous.
For documents driven by calculations rather than text, remember that RixSheets computes formulas natively — an equation in RixDocs shows the math, a spreadsheet evaluates it.
What fields are
A field is a placeholder whose value the document fills in. The three essentials:
| Field | What it shows | Typical placement |
|---|---|---|
| DATE | Today's date, updated when the document is repaginated | Cover page, header |
| PAGE | The number of the current page | Footer |
| NUMPAGES | The total number of pages in the document | Footer, cover |
Fields refresh automatically when the document repaginates — when content is added or removed, when margins change, or when the file is printed. There is no manual update step to forget.
Insert a field
- Open the Insert tab and choose Field.
- Pick the field type — DATE, PAGE or NUMPAGES.
- Confirm. The field appears in the text and shows its live value.
Page numbers done right
The classic combination is a footer that reads *Page 3 of 12*:
- Open the footer by double-clicking the bottom of the page, or via Insert, Header and Footer.
- Type "Page ", insert the PAGE field, type " of ", insert NUMPAGES.
- Click back in the body to leave the footer.
Because both are fields, the numbers stay correct as the document grows from 12 pages to 40. Pair this with the first-page and even-odd header variants for a polished, print-ready result.
Fields and the DATE caveat
The DATE field shows the date at the moment of viewing or printing. If a document must carry a fixed date — a contract signing date, a report issue date — type it as plain text instead. A good convention: cover pages use plain text dates, headers and footers use the DATE field.
How this fits with references
Fields are one of three "smart" content types in RixDocs:
- Fields show document-level values (page, date, totals).
- Cross-references point to specific content — figures, tables, headings — and renumber themselves. See links, bookmarks and cross-references.
- Citations tie body text to a bibliography managed on the References tab.
Using the right one keeps a long document self-maintaining instead of a pile of hand-typed numbers that drift out of date.
What to explore next
- Headers, footers and page setup to place fields where readers look for them.
- Footnotes, citations and TOC for academic and formal documents.
- Export, PDF and printing to see fields frozen at their final values in PDF.