Using Fields and File Links to Display Sheet Number References?

I've poked around quite a bit and this simple field seems to be missing.  The sheet index is practical unusable in its current state.  My firm has abandoned it all together.

If I remember correctly, you actually need to create a cell to hold the placeholder field. It only needs to be the text for the field, but it has to be in a cell.

Once you have the cell created, you can place it in whatever drawing you want, and add a link to the file you want to use.

Yes, it's a pain to add a cell into the middle of a line of text, but it's a lot easier than trying to keep sheet numbers updated. I did this for a project that wanted "Match Line - See Sheet ##" on every freaking sheet on a five mile project that were were continually adding details to (so the sheet numbers kept changing).

The only thing you may want to do before plotting is develop a batch process to update fields on all of your sheets.

I'm not sure if the following helps for 2020 R3, but will state this as an answer for future reference and some general revelations from messing with text favorites to number sheets.  By default, Bentley's delivered workspace uses the first "Name" field of the Place Named Boundary Civil Plan for the "Matchline SHT {Name}" (e.g. Matchline STA. 100+50 SEE SHT 2).  This also is shown as "Sheet Number" in properties(images below) for the Sheet Model.  If I wanted to only show the number here, I could start at a specified number in that Named Boundary tool field, but only if I leave "add to a sheet index" unchecked.  Unfortunately, when sheets are added to the sheet index, the sheet index will change the Sheet Name field of the models (e.g. A001, A002, etc.). This change also takes place when the Create Drawing dialog is told to "add to sheet index".  For this reason, it may be better to control these fields by not using the Sheet Index and why many DOT workspaces are creating their own tool to number and sequence sheets.  

The Sheet Index sounds like a great idea, but everything I read makes it more troublesome than helpful.

Perhaps more of a pain than I would have wanted, but still an improvement, thanks. I've developed a dummy cell that gives a sheet number for a linked sheet. I place this somewhere inconspicuous and then use text fields for the text I want shown on the sheet and link the cell. This way I can also reference multiple sheet numbers (34, 35, 62). Perhaps the ultimate solution would be the client preferring "See [sheet name or description]" instead of actual numbers but this works well in the meantime.