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#1
Posted to microsoft.public.word.pagelayout
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Forms and continuous section breaks (dropdown & fill-ins)
Hi,
I'm creating about 30 standard letters. Each letter will have some dropdown boxes and some sections where you click and replace text; I'll call these the 'replacement text boxes'. The text that is replaced in the replacement text boxes is stuff like 'manager's title' or 'employee improvement you would like them to exhibit'. So users know what goes in the box, I've added these helpful comments as default text in the Text Form Field Options window. I've got it working with one aggrevation. For the replacement text boxes, I do not protect/lock the sections. That way, when users click in the boxes, the helpful comment text that's there, is replaced by the user's text. Good that works. For the dropdown boxes, I need to protect/lock the sections so the boxes will drop down. I'm using continuous section breaks around these boxes. Good they work. The aggrevation is that continuous section breaks force a new line after them. This is a problem when I have both a dropdown box and a replacement text box on the same line. Sometimes, there will be a return in the middle of the line unless I can be crafty enough to word the text so the break is at the end of a line. Does anyone have any better approach to accomplish the same thing? I'm using Word 2003, but my client that will be using the forms has Word 2002. I'd really appreciate any ideas you may have. I'm not really a VB programmer, and altough I understand a little of it, I was hoping not to have to go that direction. Thank you, Michele |
#2
Posted to microsoft.public.word.pagelayout
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Forms and continuous section breaks (dropdown & fill-ins)
I believe your only problem is that you are trying to insert the section
breaks at the *end* of a paragraph. The insertion point can't be moved to the right of the marker, so the break is inserted *before* the marker, forcing it down - you can't have a section break in the 'midst' of a line (without breaking the line). Put your insertion point at the *beginning* of the line where you want the break to occur - IOW, always think of secton breaks as the *start* of a section, not as the *end* of one. -- HTH |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac "MJones" wrote in message ... Hi, I'm creating about 30 standard letters. Each letter will have some dropdown boxes and some sections where you click and replace text; I'll call these the 'replacement text boxes'. The text that is replaced in the replacement text boxes is stuff like 'manager's title' or 'employee improvement you would like them to exhibit'. So users know what goes in the box, I've added these helpful comments as default text in the Text Form Field Options window. I've got it working with one aggrevation. For the replacement text boxes, I do not protect/lock the sections. That way, when users click in the boxes, the helpful comment text that's there, is replaced by the user's text. Good that works. For the dropdown boxes, I need to protect/lock the sections so the boxes will drop down. I'm using continuous section breaks around these boxes. Good they work. The aggrevation is that continuous section breaks force a new line after them. This is a problem when I have both a dropdown box and a replacement text box on the same line. Sometimes, there will be a return in the middle of the line unless I can be crafty enough to word the text so the break is at the end of a line. Does anyone have any better approach to accomplish the same thing? I'm using Word 2003, but my client that will be using the forms has Word 2002. I'd really appreciate any ideas you may have. I'm not really a VB programmer, and altough I understand a little of it, I was hoping not to have to go that direction. Thank you, Michele |
#3
Posted to microsoft.public.word.pagelayout
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Forms and continuous section breaks (dropdown & fill-ins)
Hi Bob,
My basic problem is that I can't break in the middle of a line without having a line break. I'm trying to break in between the dropdown box and the replacement text boxes, and if that means in the middle of the line, then I need to do that so they both work properly. Basically, if this idea won't work, I'm looking for another strategy to accomplish this form letter request. It doesn't seem to be such a wild idea to me and I'm hoping that someone would have run across it that can help. Thanks for trying, Michele "CyberTaz" wrote: I believe your only problem is that you are trying to insert the section breaks at the *end* of a paragraph. The insertion point can't be moved to the right of the marker, so the break is inserted *before* the marker, forcing it down - you can't have a section break in the 'midst' of a line (without breaking the line). Put your insertion point at the *beginning* of the line where you want the break to occur - IOW, always think of secton breaks as the *start* of a section, not as the *end* of one. -- HTH |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac "MJones" wrote in message ... Hi, I'm creating about 30 standard letters. Each letter will have some dropdown boxes and some sections where you click and replace text; I'll call these the 'replacement text boxes'. The text that is replaced in the replacement text boxes is stuff like 'manager's title' or 'employee improvement you would like them to exhibit'. So users know what goes in the box, I've added these helpful comments as default text in the Text Form Field Options window. I've got it working with one aggrevation. For the replacement text boxes, I do not protect/lock the sections. That way, when users click in the boxes, the helpful comment text that's there, is replaced by the user's text. Good that works. For the dropdown boxes, I need to protect/lock the sections so the boxes will drop down. I'm using continuous section breaks around these boxes. Good they work. The aggrevation is that continuous section breaks force a new line after them. This is a problem when I have both a dropdown box and a replacement text box on the same line. Sometimes, there will be a return in the middle of the line unless I can be crafty enough to word the text so the break is at the end of a line. Does anyone have any better approach to accomplish the same thing? I'm using Word 2003, but my client that will be using the forms has Word 2002. I'd really appreciate any ideas you may have. I'm not really a VB programmer, and altough I understand a little of it, I was hoping not to have to go that direction. Thank you, Michele |
#4
Posted to microsoft.public.word.pagelayout
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Forms and continuous section breaks (dropdown & fill-ins)
If what you want is something like:
Text Form Field Here Drop-Down Form Field Here I think you may be under a wrong impression about how Protection works in forms. You don't need Section Breaks for this. The protection feature determines whether a user can change things about the document content/structure/formatting & can be regulated by the use of Section Breaks. Text Form Fields & Drop-Down Form Fields function the same regardless of whether the section they're in is protected or not. It's just that the Protect Form (Lock) button needs to be turned on in order for them to function. IOW, there is a distinction between protecting the *Form* & protecting the *Document* containing the form controls. For better control I'd suggest using a table (2 column, 1 row) with the Text Form Field in one cell & the D-D Form Field in the second. Unless you need them for other reasons, though, Section Breaks aren't required unless you want people to change things (revise text, for example) in specified areas of the doc & its content *other than* using the form controls. When you click the Lock button the controls will be active regardless of what type they are. The user just can't delete any content, change margins, move tabs, add content - other than in the provided controls. -- Regards |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac "MJones" wrote in message ... Hi Bob, My basic problem is that I can't break in the middle of a line without having a line break. I'm trying to break in between the dropdown box and the replacement text boxes, and if that means in the middle of the line, then I need to do that so they both work properly. Basically, if this idea won't work, I'm looking for another strategy to accomplish this form letter request. It doesn't seem to be such a wild idea to me and I'm hoping that someone would have run across it that can help. Thanks for trying, Michele "CyberTaz" wrote: I believe your only problem is that you are trying to insert the section breaks at the *end* of a paragraph. The insertion point can't be moved to the right of the marker, so the break is inserted *before* the marker, forcing it down - you can't have a section break in the 'midst' of a line (without breaking the line). Put your insertion point at the *beginning* of the line where you want the break to occur - IOW, always think of secton breaks as the *start* of a section, not as the *end* of one. -- HTH |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac "MJones" wrote in message ... Hi, I'm creating about 30 standard letters. Each letter will have some dropdown boxes and some sections where you click and replace text; I'll call these the 'replacement text boxes'. The text that is replaced in the replacement text boxes is stuff like 'manager's title' or 'employee improvement you would like them to exhibit'. So users know what goes in the box, I've added these helpful comments as default text in the Text Form Field Options window. I've got it working with one aggrevation. For the replacement text boxes, I do not protect/lock the sections. That way, when users click in the boxes, the helpful comment text that's there, is replaced by the user's text. Good that works. For the dropdown boxes, I need to protect/lock the sections so the boxes will drop down. I'm using continuous section breaks around these boxes. Good they work. The aggrevation is that continuous section breaks force a new line after them. This is a problem when I have both a dropdown box and a replacement text box on the same line. Sometimes, there will be a return in the middle of the line unless I can be crafty enough to word the text so the break is at the end of a line. Does anyone have any better approach to accomplish the same thing? I'm using Word 2003, but my client that will be using the forms has Word 2002. I'd really appreciate any ideas you may have. I'm not really a VB programmer, and altough I understand a little of it, I was hoping not to have to go that direction. Thank you, Michele |
#5
Posted to microsoft.public.word.pagelayout
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Forms and continuous section breaks (dropdown & fill-ins)
Remember, there are 30 letters and some of the field entries could be several
lines long so tables won't work. Also, I find that locking makes a big difference. The dropdown box doesn't dropdown unless its locked and the text boxes can't be locked or then the text in them won't go away when you click on them. I got this idea from a website, I think an MVP. I'll try to find it if that will help and I'll get back to you. Thanks for your help so far. "CyberTaz" wrote: If what you want is something like: Text Form Field Here Drop-Down Form Field Here I think you may be under a wrong impression about how Protection works in forms. You don't need Section Breaks for this. The protection feature determines whether a user can change things about the document content/structure/formatting & can be regulated by the use of Section Breaks. Text Form Fields & Drop-Down Form Fields function the same regardless of whether the section they're in is protected or not. It's just that the Protect Form (Lock) button needs to be turned on in order for them to function. IOW, there is a distinction between protecting the *Form* & protecting the *Document* containing the form controls. For better control I'd suggest using a table (2 column, 1 row) with the Text Form Field in one cell & the D-D Form Field in the second. Unless you need them for other reasons, though, Section Breaks aren't required unless you want people to change things (revise text, for example) in specified areas of the doc & its content *other than* using the form controls. When you click the Lock button the controls will be active regardless of what type they are. The user just can't delete any content, change margins, move tabs, add content - other than in the provided controls. -- Regards |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac "MJones" wrote in message ... Hi Bob, My basic problem is that I can't break in the middle of a line without having a line break. I'm trying to break in between the dropdown box and the replacement text boxes, and if that means in the middle of the line, then I need to do that so they both work properly. Basically, if this idea won't work, I'm looking for another strategy to accomplish this form letter request. It doesn't seem to be such a wild idea to me and I'm hoping that someone would have run across it that can help. Thanks for trying, Michele "CyberTaz" wrote: I believe your only problem is that you are trying to insert the section breaks at the *end* of a paragraph. The insertion point can't be moved to the right of the marker, so the break is inserted *before* the marker, forcing it down - you can't have a section break in the 'midst' of a line (without breaking the line). Put your insertion point at the *beginning* of the line where you want the break to occur - IOW, always think of secton breaks as the *start* of a section, not as the *end* of one. -- HTH |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac "MJones" wrote in message ... Hi, I'm creating about 30 standard letters. Each letter will have some dropdown boxes and some sections where you click and replace text; I'll call these the 'replacement text boxes'. The text that is replaced in the replacement text boxes is stuff like 'manager's title' or 'employee improvement you would like them to exhibit'. So users know what goes in the box, I've added these helpful comments as default text in the Text Form Field Options window. I've got it working with one aggrevation. For the replacement text boxes, I do not protect/lock the sections. That way, when users click in the boxes, the helpful comment text that's there, is replaced by the user's text. Good that works. For the dropdown boxes, I need to protect/lock the sections so the boxes will drop down. I'm using continuous section breaks around these boxes. Good they work. The aggrevation is that continuous section breaks force a new line after them. This is a problem when I have both a dropdown box and a replacement text box on the same line. Sometimes, there will be a return in the middle of the line unless I can be crafty enough to word the text so the break is at the end of a line. Does anyone have any better approach to accomplish the same thing? I'm using Word 2003, but my client that will be using the forms has Word 2002. I'd really appreciate any ideas you may have. I'm not really a VB programmer, and altough I understand a little of it, I was hoping not to have to go that direction. Thank you, Michele |
#6
Posted to microsoft.public.word.pagelayout
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Forms and continuous section breaks (dropdown & fill-ins)
As long as you tab into the text form fields, the text will be selected. I
think it would be much more sensible to protect the entire form and expect users to know how to use it properly; I would find it extremely confusing and frustrating to fill in a form that had form fields that couldn't be used as such. (Actually, I've had this experience; I got a form that contained form fields but was not protected, and there were elaborate instructions telling users how to open the Form Field Options dialog and change the check box from unchecked to checked!) -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "MJones" wrote in message news Remember, there are 30 letters and some of the field entries could be several lines long so tables won't work. Also, I find that locking makes a big difference. The dropdown box doesn't dropdown unless its locked and the text boxes can't be locked or then the text in them won't go away when you click on them. I got this idea from a website, I think an MVP. I'll try to find it if that will help and I'll get back to you. Thanks for your help so far. "CyberTaz" wrote: If what you want is something like: Text Form Field Here Drop-Down Form Field Here I think you may be under a wrong impression about how Protection works in forms. You don't need Section Breaks for this. The protection feature determines whether a user can change things about the document content/structure/formatting & can be regulated by the use of Section Breaks. Text Form Fields & Drop-Down Form Fields function the same regardless of whether the section they're in is protected or not. It's just that the Protect Form (Lock) button needs to be turned on in order for them to function. IOW, there is a distinction between protecting the *Form* & protecting the *Document* containing the form controls. For better control I'd suggest using a table (2 column, 1 row) with the Text Form Field in one cell & the D-D Form Field in the second. Unless you need them for other reasons, though, Section Breaks aren't required unless you want people to change things (revise text, for example) in specified areas of the doc & its content *other than* using the form controls. When you click the Lock button the controls will be active regardless of what type they are. The user just can't delete any content, change margins, move tabs, add content - other than in the provided controls. -- Regards |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac "MJones" wrote in message ... Hi Bob, My basic problem is that I can't break in the middle of a line without having a line break. I'm trying to break in between the dropdown box and the replacement text boxes, and if that means in the middle of the line, then I need to do that so they both work properly. Basically, if this idea won't work, I'm looking for another strategy to accomplish this form letter request. It doesn't seem to be such a wild idea to me and I'm hoping that someone would have run across it that can help. Thanks for trying, Michele "CyberTaz" wrote: I believe your only problem is that you are trying to insert the section breaks at the *end* of a paragraph. The insertion point can't be moved to the right of the marker, so the break is inserted *before* the marker, forcing it down - you can't have a section break in the 'midst' of a line (without breaking the line). Put your insertion point at the *beginning* of the line where you want the break to occur - IOW, always think of secton breaks as the *start* of a section, not as the *end* of one. -- HTH |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac "MJones" wrote in message ... Hi, I'm creating about 30 standard letters. Each letter will have some dropdown boxes and some sections where you click and replace text; I'll call these the 'replacement text boxes'. The text that is replaced in the replacement text boxes is stuff like 'manager's title' or 'employee improvement you would like them to exhibit'. So users know what goes in the box, I've added these helpful comments as default text in the Text Form Field Options window. I've got it working with one aggrevation. For the replacement text boxes, I do not protect/lock the sections. That way, when users click in the boxes, the helpful comment text that's there, is replaced by the user's text. Good that works. For the dropdown boxes, I need to protect/lock the sections so the boxes will drop down. I'm using continuous section breaks around these boxes. Good they work. The aggrevation is that continuous section breaks force a new line after them. This is a problem when I have both a dropdown box and a replacement text box on the same line. Sometimes, there will be a return in the middle of the line unless I can be crafty enough to word the text so the break is at the end of a line. Does anyone have any better approach to accomplish the same thing? I'm using Word 2003, but my client that will be using the forms has Word 2002. I'd really appreciate any ideas you may have. I'm not really a VB programmer, and altough I understand a little of it, I was hoping not to have to go that direction. Thank you, Michele |
#7
Posted to microsoft.public.word.pagelayout
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Forms and continuous section breaks (dropdown & fill-ins)
That sounds good Suzanne, except that the tab key just makes a tab. How do
you get the tab to jump to the next field? "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: As long as you tab into the text form fields, the text will be selected. I think it would be much more sensible to protect the entire form and expect users to know how to use it properly; I would find it extremely confusing and frustrating to fill in a form that had form fields that couldn't be used as such. (Actually, I've had this experience; I got a form that contained form fields but was not protected, and there were elaborate instructions telling users how to open the Form Field Options dialog and change the check box from unchecked to checked!) -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "MJones" wrote in message news Remember, there are 30 letters and some of the field entries could be several lines long so tables won't work. Also, I find that locking makes a big difference. The dropdown box doesn't dropdown unless its locked and the text boxes can't be locked or then the text in them won't go away when you click on them. I got this idea from a website, I think an MVP. I'll try to find it if that will help and I'll get back to you. Thanks for your help so far. "CyberTaz" wrote: If what you want is something like: Text Form Field Here Drop-Down Form Field Here I think you may be under a wrong impression about how Protection works in forms. You don't need Section Breaks for this. The protection feature determines whether a user can change things about the document content/structure/formatting & can be regulated by the use of Section Breaks. Text Form Fields & Drop-Down Form Fields function the same regardless of whether the section they're in is protected or not. It's just that the Protect Form (Lock) button needs to be turned on in order for them to function. IOW, there is a distinction between protecting the *Form* & protecting the *Document* containing the form controls. For better control I'd suggest using a table (2 column, 1 row) with the Text Form Field in one cell & the D-D Form Field in the second. Unless you need them for other reasons, though, Section Breaks aren't required unless you want people to change things (revise text, for example) in specified areas of the doc & its content *other than* using the form controls. When you click the Lock button the controls will be active regardless of what type they are. The user just can't delete any content, change margins, move tabs, add content - other than in the provided controls. -- Regards |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac "MJones" wrote in message ... Hi Bob, My basic problem is that I can't break in the middle of a line without having a line break. I'm trying to break in between the dropdown box and the replacement text boxes, and if that means in the middle of the line, then I need to do that so they both work properly. Basically, if this idea won't work, I'm looking for another strategy to accomplish this form letter request. It doesn't seem to be such a wild idea to me and I'm hoping that someone would have run across it that can help. Thanks for trying, Michele "CyberTaz" wrote: I believe your only problem is that you are trying to insert the section breaks at the *end* of a paragraph. The insertion point can't be moved to the right of the marker, so the break is inserted *before* the marker, forcing it down - you can't have a section break in the 'midst' of a line (without breaking the line). Put your insertion point at the *beginning* of the line where you want the break to occur - IOW, always think of secton breaks as the *start* of a section, not as the *end* of one. -- HTH |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac "MJones" wrote in message ... Hi, I'm creating about 30 standard letters. Each letter will have some dropdown boxes and some sections where you click and replace text; I'll call these the 'replacement text boxes'. The text that is replaced in the replacement text boxes is stuff like 'manager's title' or 'employee improvement you would like them to exhibit'. So users know what goes in the box, I've added these helpful comments as default text in the Text Form Field Options window. I've got it working with one aggrevation. For the replacement text boxes, I do not protect/lock the sections. That way, when users click in the boxes, the helpful comment text that's there, is replaced by the user's text. Good that works. For the dropdown boxes, I need to protect/lock the sections so the boxes will drop down. I'm using continuous section breaks around these boxes. Good they work. The aggrevation is that continuous section breaks force a new line after them. This is a problem when I have both a dropdown box and a replacement text box on the same line. Sometimes, there will be a return in the middle of the line unless I can be crafty enough to word the text so the break is at the end of a line. Does anyone have any better approach to accomplish the same thing? I'm using Word 2003, but my client that will be using the forms has Word 2002. I'd really appreciate any ideas you may have. I'm not really a VB programmer, and altough I understand a little of it, I was hoping not to have to go that direction. Thank you, Michele |
#8
Posted to microsoft.public.word.pagelayout
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Forms and continuous section breaks (dropdown & fill-ins)
When the document (all of it) is protected, Tab goes to the next field.
-- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "MJones" wrote in message ... That sounds good Suzanne, except that the tab key just makes a tab. How do you get the tab to jump to the next field? "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: As long as you tab into the text form fields, the text will be selected. I think it would be much more sensible to protect the entire form and expect users to know how to use it properly; I would find it extremely confusing and frustrating to fill in a form that had form fields that couldn't be used as such. (Actually, I've had this experience; I got a form that contained form fields but was not protected, and there were elaborate instructions telling users how to open the Form Field Options dialog and change the check box from unchecked to checked!) -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "MJones" wrote in message news Remember, there are 30 letters and some of the field entries could be several lines long so tables won't work. Also, I find that locking makes a big difference. The dropdown box doesn't dropdown unless its locked and the text boxes can't be locked or then the text in them won't go away when you click on them. I got this idea from a website, I think an MVP. I'll try to find it if that will help and I'll get back to you. Thanks for your help so far. "CyberTaz" wrote: If what you want is something like: Text Form Field Here Drop-Down Form Field Here I think you may be under a wrong impression about how Protection works in forms. You don't need Section Breaks for this. The protection feature determines whether a user can change things about the document content/structure/formatting & can be regulated by the use of Section Breaks. Text Form Fields & Drop-Down Form Fields function the same regardless of whether the section they're in is protected or not. It's just that the Protect Form (Lock) button needs to be turned on in order for them to function. IOW, there is a distinction between protecting the *Form* & protecting the *Document* containing the form controls. For better control I'd suggest using a table (2 column, 1 row) with the Text Form Field in one cell & the D-D Form Field in the second. Unless you need them for other reasons, though, Section Breaks aren't required unless you want people to change things (revise text, for example) in specified areas of the doc & its content *other than* using the form controls. When you click the Lock button the controls will be active regardless of what type they are. The user just can't delete any content, change margins, move tabs, add content - other than in the provided controls. -- Regards |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac "MJones" wrote in message ... Hi Bob, My basic problem is that I can't break in the middle of a line without having a line break. I'm trying to break in between the dropdown box and the replacement text boxes, and if that means in the middle of the line, then I need to do that so they both work properly. Basically, if this idea won't work, I'm looking for another strategy to accomplish this form letter request. It doesn't seem to be such a wild idea to me and I'm hoping that someone would have run across it that can help. Thanks for trying, Michele "CyberTaz" wrote: I believe your only problem is that you are trying to insert the section breaks at the *end* of a paragraph. The insertion point can't be moved to the right of the marker, so the break is inserted *before* the marker, forcing it down - you can't have a section break in the 'midst' of a line (without breaking the line). Put your insertion point at the *beginning* of the line where you want the break to occur - IOW, always think of secton breaks as the *start* of a section, not as the *end* of one. -- HTH |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac "MJones" wrote in message ... Hi, I'm creating about 30 standard letters. Each letter will have some dropdown boxes and some sections where you click and replace text; I'll call these the 'replacement text boxes'. The text that is replaced in the replacement text boxes is stuff like 'manager's title' or 'employee improvement you would like them to exhibit'. So users know what goes in the box, I've added these helpful comments as default text in the Text Form Field Options window. I've got it working with one aggrevation. For the replacement text boxes, I do not protect/lock the sections. That way, when users click in the boxes, the helpful comment text that's there, is replaced by the user's text. Good that works. For the dropdown boxes, I need to protect/lock the sections so the boxes will drop down. I'm using continuous section breaks around these boxes. Good they work. The aggrevation is that continuous section breaks force a new line after them. This is a problem when I have both a dropdown box and a replacement text box on the same line. Sometimes, there will be a return in the middle of the line unless I can be crafty enough to word the text so the break is at the end of a line. Does anyone have any better approach to accomplish the same thing? I'm using Word 2003, but my client that will be using the forms has Word 2002. I'd really appreciate any ideas you may have. I'm not really a VB programmer, and altough I understand a little of it, I was hoping not to have to go that direction. Thank you, Michele |
#9
Posted to microsoft.public.word.pagelayout
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Forms and continuous section breaks (dropdown & fill-ins)
Yes, I just figured that out. Doesn't seem very user friendly though.
I know my users are going to click in the box, especially because some of the 300 stock forms that I'm customizing for them requires them to click in the box to enter data in certain sections. The users will stumble on the forms, new people will join the company, etc., so they can't all be trained. The forms need to be intuitive. I'm trying to add a text box in the top corner, but unlike Excel, I can't see how to set the text box not to print. Hum. Anyway, thanks again for your help. You've helped me several times before and I'm always very appreciative. "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: When the document (all of it) is protected, Tab goes to the next field. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "MJones" wrote in message ... That sounds good Suzanne, except that the tab key just makes a tab. How do you get the tab to jump to the next field? "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: As long as you tab into the text form fields, the text will be selected. I think it would be much more sensible to protect the entire form and expect users to know how to use it properly; I would find it extremely confusing and frustrating to fill in a form that had form fields that couldn't be used as such. (Actually, I've had this experience; I got a form that contained form fields but was not protected, and there were elaborate instructions telling users how to open the Form Field Options dialog and change the check box from unchecked to checked!) -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "MJones" wrote in message news Remember, there are 30 letters and some of the field entries could be several lines long so tables won't work. Also, I find that locking makes a big difference. The dropdown box doesn't dropdown unless its locked and the text boxes can't be locked or then the text in them won't go away when you click on them. I got this idea from a website, I think an MVP. I'll try to find it if that will help and I'll get back to you. Thanks for your help so far. "CyberTaz" wrote: If what you want is something like: Text Form Field Here Drop-Down Form Field Here I think you may be under a wrong impression about how Protection works in forms. You don't need Section Breaks for this. The protection feature determines whether a user can change things about the document content/structure/formatting & can be regulated by the use of Section Breaks. Text Form Fields & Drop-Down Form Fields function the same regardless of whether the section they're in is protected or not. It's just that the Protect Form (Lock) button needs to be turned on in order for them to function. IOW, there is a distinction between protecting the *Form* & protecting the *Document* containing the form controls. For better control I'd suggest using a table (2 column, 1 row) with the Text Form Field in one cell & the D-D Form Field in the second. Unless you need them for other reasons, though, Section Breaks aren't required unless you want people to change things (revise text, for example) in specified areas of the doc & its content *other than* using the form controls. When you click the Lock button the controls will be active regardless of what type they are. The user just can't delete any content, change margins, move tabs, add content - other than in the provided controls. -- Regards |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac "MJones" wrote in message ... Hi Bob, My basic problem is that I can't break in the middle of a line without having a line break. I'm trying to break in between the dropdown box and the replacement text boxes, and if that means in the middle of the line, then I need to do that so they both work properly. Basically, if this idea won't work, I'm looking for another strategy to accomplish this form letter request. It doesn't seem to be such a wild idea to me and I'm hoping that someone would have run across it that can help. Thanks for trying, Michele "CyberTaz" wrote: I believe your only problem is that you are trying to insert the section breaks at the *end* of a paragraph. The insertion point can't be moved to the right of the marker, so the break is inserted *before* the marker, forcing it down - you can't have a section break in the 'midst' of a line (without breaking the line). Put your insertion point at the *beginning* of the line where you want the break to occur - IOW, always think of secton breaks as the *start* of a section, not as the *end* of one. -- HTH |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac "MJones" wrote in message ... Hi, I'm creating about 30 standard letters. Each letter will have some dropdown boxes and some sections where you click and replace text; I'll call these the 'replacement text boxes'. The text that is replaced in the replacement text boxes is stuff like 'manager's title' or 'employee improvement you would like them to exhibit'. So users know what goes in the box, I've added these helpful comments as default text in the Text Form Field Options window. I've got it working with one aggrevation. For the replacement text boxes, I do not protect/lock the sections. That way, when users click in the boxes, the helpful comment text that's there, is replaced by the user's text. Good that works. For the dropdown boxes, I need to protect/lock the sections so the boxes will drop down. I'm using continuous section breaks around these boxes. Good they work. The aggrevation is that continuous section breaks force a new line after them. This is a problem when I have both a dropdown box and a replacement text box on the same line. Sometimes, there will be a return in the middle of the line unless I can be crafty enough to word the text so the break is at the end of a line. Does anyone have any better approach to accomplish the same thing? I'm using Word 2003, but my client that will be using the forms has Word 2002. I'd really appreciate any ideas you may have. I'm not really a VB programmer, and altough I understand a little of it, I was hoping not to have to go that direction. Thank you, Michele |
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Forms and continuous section breaks (dropdown & fill-ins)
I think I would be inclined to simply use macrobutton fields and training to
impress upon your users to leave the standard text alone. Does http://www.gmayor.com/Macrobutton.htm help? Better still create a userform Word MVP FAQ - Userforms http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Userforms.htm - that gathers your variable data then inserts that data or information based on that data via the form. This way you can probably get away with fewer templates and the users will not have to mess with the document, only the userform.. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org MJones wrote: Yes, I just figured that out. Doesn't seem very user friendly though. I know my users are going to click in the box, especially because some of the 300 stock forms that I'm customizing for them requires them to click in the box to enter data in certain sections. The users will stumble on the forms, new people will join the company, etc., so they can't all be trained. The forms need to be intuitive. I'm trying to add a text box in the top corner, but unlike Excel, I can't see how to set the text box not to print. Hum. Anyway, thanks again for your help. You've helped me several times before and I'm always very appreciative. "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: When the document (all of it) is protected, Tab goes to the next field. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "MJones" wrote in message ... That sounds good Suzanne, except that the tab key just makes a tab. How do you get the tab to jump to the next field? "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: As long as you tab into the text form fields, the text will be selected. I think it would be much more sensible to protect the entire form and expect users to know how to use it properly; I would find it extremely confusing and frustrating to fill in a form that had form fields that couldn't be used as such. (Actually, I've had this experience; I got a form that contained form fields but was not protected, and there were elaborate instructions telling users how to open the Form Field Options dialog and change the check box from unchecked to checked!) -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit. "MJones" wrote in message news Remember, there are 30 letters and some of the field entries could be several lines long so tables won't work. Also, I find that locking makes a big difference. The dropdown box doesn't dropdown unless its locked and the text boxes can't be locked or then the text in them won't go away when you click on them. I got this idea from a website, I think an MVP. I'll try to find it if that will help and I'll get back to you. Thanks for your help so far. "CyberTaz" wrote: If what you want is something like: Text Form Field Here Drop-Down Form Field Here I think you may be under a wrong impression about how Protection works in forms. You don't need Section Breaks for this. The protection feature determines whether a user can change things about the document content/structure/formatting & can be regulated by the use of Section Breaks. Text Form Fields & Drop-Down Form Fields function the same regardless of whether the section they're in is protected or not. It's just that the Protect Form (Lock) button needs to be turned on in order for them to function. IOW, there is a distinction between protecting the *Form* & protecting the *Document* containing the form controls. For better control I'd suggest using a table (2 column, 1 row) with the Text Form Field in one cell & the D-D Form Field in the second. Unless you need them for other reasons, though, Section Breaks aren't required unless you want people to change things (revise text, for example) in specified areas of the doc & its content *other than* using the form controls. When you click the Lock button the controls will be active regardless of what type they are. The user just can't delete any content, change margins, move tabs, add content - other than in the provided controls. -- Regards |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac "MJones" wrote in message ... Hi Bob, My basic problem is that I can't break in the middle of a line without having a line break. I'm trying to break in between the dropdown box and the replacement text boxes, and if that means in the middle of the line, then I need to do that so they both work properly. Basically, if this idea won't work, I'm looking for another strategy to accomplish this form letter request. It doesn't seem to be such a wild idea to me and I'm hoping that someone would have run across it that can help. Thanks for trying, Michele "CyberTaz" wrote: I believe your only problem is that you are trying to insert the section breaks at the *end* of a paragraph. The insertion point can't be moved to the right of the marker, so the break is inserted *before* the marker, forcing it down - you can't have a section break in the 'midst' of a line (without breaking the line). Put your insertion point at the *beginning* of the line where you want the break to occur - IOW, always think of secton breaks as the *start* of a section, not as the *end* of one. -- HTH |:) Bob Jones [MVP] Office:Mac "MJones" wrote in message ... Hi, I'm creating about 30 standard letters. Each letter will have some dropdown boxes and some sections where you click and replace text; I'll call these the 'replacement text boxes'. The text that is replaced in the replacement text boxes is stuff like 'manager's title' or 'employee improvement you would like them to exhibit'. So users know what goes in the box, I've added these helpful comments as default text in the Text Form Field Options window. I've got it working with one aggrevation. For the replacement text boxes, I do not protect/lock the sections. That way, when users click in the boxes, the helpful comment text that's there, is replaced by the user's text. Good that works. For the dropdown boxes, I need to protect/lock the sections so the boxes will drop down. I'm using continuous section breaks around these boxes. Good they work. The aggrevation is that continuous section breaks force a new line after them. This is a problem when I have both a dropdown box and a replacement text box on the same line. Sometimes, there will be a return in the middle of the line unless I can be crafty enough to word the text so the break is at the end of a line. Does anyone have any better approach to accomplish the same thing? I'm using Word 2003, but my client that will be using the forms has Word 2002. I'd really appreciate any ideas you may have. I'm not really a VB programmer, and altough I understand a little of it, I was hoping not to have to go that direction. Thank you, Michele |
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