Hello,
Is it possible to have a drop down menu in Word, and then depending on which
item the user selects, only content specific to that item is displayed in a
text box or field???

Thanks!

Let me know if I'm not making sense.

I'm not quite clear on what kind of 'content' you want, but you might
be looking for an AutoTextList field
(http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFl...toTextList.htm).

If that isn't it, maybe it's something like this:
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Toggle_Data_Display.htm

If I still haven't hit it, try explaining with a more specific example
of how you want the document to work. What phrases should be in the
dropdown (or maybe some other kind of list would do), and what sort of
'content' should be in the text box or field (or, again, something
else may be appropriate)? After the content appears, should the user
be able to modify it? Should they be able to pick something else in
the dropdown if they don't like the result? What should be the
ultimate use of the document (printing, emailing, extracting the
results into a database, etc.)?

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Mon, 15 May 2006 14:06:02 -0700, trailerparkboy
wrote:

Hello,
Is it possible to have a drop down menu in Word, and then depending on which
item the user selects, only content specific to that item is displayed in a
text box or field???

Thanks!

Let me know if I'm not making sense.

Thanks for your quick reply. I have checked those links and try and determine
what works best for me in this situation.

To answer your questions and be more specific, basically I have a Word
template that has some text fields. On this form there is a drop down menu
with the names of 3 people. When someone selects one of those names, a few
other fields will auto-populate with information specific to that person (ie
their e-mail address, title, etc.)

The user won't need to modify the results. They should be able to select a
different person for a different result. People will be saving this document,
printing it, or e-mailing it.

If I had a simple sample document of this in action, that would be ideal, so
I could modify it to my needs. I did some searching in this forum and found
some info on adding a macro, but I'm worried it would take me too long to get
it working.

Thanks!

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

I'm not quite clear on what kind of 'content' you want, but you might
be looking for an AutoTextList field
(http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFl...toTextList.htm).

If that isn't it, maybe it's something like this:
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Toggle_Data_Display.htm

If I still haven't hit it, try explaining with a more specific example
of how you want the document to work. What phrases should be in the
dropdown (or maybe some other kind of list would do), and what sort of
'content' should be in the text box or field (or, again, something
else may be appropriate)? After the content appears, should the user
be able to modify it? Should they be able to pick something else in
the dropdown if they don't like the result? What should be the
ultimate use of the document (printing, emailing, extracting the
results into a database, etc.)?

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Mon, 15 May 2006 14:06:02 -0700, trailerparkboy
wrote:

Hello,
Is it possible to have a drop down menu in Word, and then depending on which
item the user selects, only content specific to that item is displayed in a
text box or field???

Thanks!

Let me know if I'm not making sense.

OK, for this you will need a macro, and you're correct that a working
example is really the only way to show how to do it.

Download http://jay-freedman.info/sampleform.zip and unzip the
template inside it into your Word Templates folder (the location is
shown in the Tools Options File Locations dialog). Then use File
New to create a document based on the template. The top of the page is
the working form, and the bottom part explains how it works.

To adapt the template for your use:
- Use the File Open dialog, navigate to the Templates folder, and
open the template itself (rather than a document based on it).
- Click the lock icon on the Forms toolbar to unlock it.
- Move the fields around, change the text, add new fields, etc.
- If you change the names of the fields involved in the automatic
filling, you'll also have to change those names in the last few lines
of the macro.
- Put the correct data into the macro. [Note: The names listed in the
macro aren't actually used for anything; they're there to remind you
of the order to place the other data in. The names used in the form
are stored in the dropdown field, not in the macro.]
- Click the lock icon again to turn it on.
- Save the template.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Mon, 15 May 2006 15:01:01 -0700, trailerparkboy
wrote:

Thanks for your quick reply. I have checked those links and try and determine
what works best for me in this situation.

To answer your questions and be more specific, basically I have a Word
template that has some text fields. On this form there is a drop down menu
with the names of 3 people. When someone selects one of those names, a few
other fields will auto-populate with information specific to that person (ie
their e-mail address, title, etc.)

The user won't need to modify the results. They should be able to select a
different person for a different result. People will be saving this document,
printing it, or e-mailing it.

If I had a simple sample document of this in action, that would be ideal, so
I could modify it to my needs. I did some searching in this forum and found
some info on adding a macro, but I'm worried it would take me too long to get
it working.

Thanks!

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

I'm not quite clear on what kind of 'content' you want, but you might
be looking for an AutoTextList field
(http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFl...toTextList.htm).

If that isn't it, maybe it's something like this:
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Toggle_Data_Display.htm

If I still haven't hit it, try explaining with a more specific example
of how you want the document to work. What phrases should be in the
dropdown (or maybe some other kind of list would do), and what sort of
'content' should be in the text box or field (or, again, something
else may be appropriate)? After the content appears, should the user
be able to modify it? Should they be able to pick something else in
the dropdown if they don't like the result? What should be the
ultimate use of the document (printing, emailing, extracting the
results into a database, etc.)?

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Mon, 15 May 2006 14:06:02 -0700, trailerparkboy
wrote:

Hello,
Is it possible to have a drop down menu in Word, and then depending on which
item the user selects, only content specific to that item is displayed in a
text box or field???

Thanks!

Let me know if I'm not making sense.

That's excellent. Thank you.
I managed to get the drop down menu and related fields to display on my own
form. Now I just have two questions:

1) When I open the form, do I always have to click on the 'protect form'
padlock and then select the name from the drop down list? And then deselect
it so I can fill in other fields in my form? The drop down list doesn't work
unless I click on the padlock correct? Maybe I'm not doing something right
here.

2) After selecting from the drop down, I have to hit 'Tab' for the fields to
display the corresponding information for that item. Is it possible to have
these fields filled in as soon as I click on the menu item, so I don't have
to hit 'Tab'.

Thanks!



"Jay Freedman" wrote:

OK, for this you will need a macro, and you're correct that a working
example is really the only way to show how to do it.

Download http://jay-freedman.info/sampleform.zip and unzip the
template inside it into your Word Templates folder (the location is
shown in the Tools Options File Locations dialog). Then use File
New to create a document based on the template. The top of the page is
the working form, and the bottom part explains how it works.

To adapt the template for your use:
- Use the File Open dialog, navigate to the Templates folder, and
open the template itself (rather than a document based on it).
- Click the lock icon on the Forms toolbar to unlock it.
- Move the fields around, change the text, add new fields, etc.
- If you change the names of the fields involved in the automatic
filling, you'll also have to change those names in the last few lines
of the macro.
- Put the correct data into the macro. [Note: The names listed in the
macro aren't actually used for anything; they're there to remind you
of the order to place the other data in. The names used in the form
are stored in the dropdown field, not in the macro.]
- Click the lock icon again to turn it on.
- Save the template.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Mon, 15 May 2006 15:01:01 -0700, trailerparkboy
wrote:

Thanks for your quick reply. I have checked those links and try and determine
what works best for me in this situation.

To answer your questions and be more specific, basically I have a Word
template that has some text fields. On this form there is a drop down menu
with the names of 3 people. When someone selects one of those names, a few
other fields will auto-populate with information specific to that person (ie
their e-mail address, title, etc.)

The user won't need to modify the results. They should be able to select a
different person for a different result. People will be saving this document,
printing it, or e-mailing it.

If I had a simple sample document of this in action, that would be ideal, so
I could modify it to my needs. I did some searching in this forum and found
some info on adding a macro, but I'm worried it would take me too long to get
it working.

Thanks!

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

I'm not quite clear on what kind of 'content' you want, but you might
be looking for an AutoTextList field
(http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFl...toTextList.htm).

If that isn't it, maybe it's something like this:
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Toggle_Data_Display.htm

If I still haven't hit it, try explaining with a more specific example
of how you want the document to work. What phrases should be in the
dropdown (or maybe some other kind of list would do), and what sort of
'content' should be in the text box or field (or, again, something
else may be appropriate)? After the content appears, should the user
be able to modify it? Should they be able to pick something else in
the dropdown if they don't like the result? What should be the
ultimate use of the document (printing, emailing, extracting the
results into a database, etc.)?

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Mon, 15 May 2006 14:06:02 -0700, trailerparkboy
wrote:

Hello,
Is it possible to have a drop down menu in Word, and then depending on which
item the user selects, only content specific to that item is displayed in a
text box or field???

Thanks!

Let me know if I'm not making sense.

For #1, the "other fields" on your form should be actual form fields,
inserted from the Forms toolbar. The principle is that once the form is
protected, _only_ form fields (text fields, dropdowns, or check boxes) are
editable. Everything else is ... protected.

For #2, the answer is no, the fields can't be made to update immediately
when something is selected in the dropdown. The reason is that the macro
that fills the other fields is an "exit macro" -- Word runs it only when the
cursor exits from the dropdown.

There is an alternative that would solve both problems, but it's a bit more
complicated. Using VBA, you can create a custom dialog (Word calls it a
UserForm, which is a terribly confusing term). There's a short tutorial
about it at http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Userforms/CreateAUserForm.htm.

The macro that makes the dialog appear can be an AutoNew macro that runs
automatically when a new document is created from the template, or it can be
a regular macro started by a MacroButton field or a toolbar button. The
dialog would contain the list of people, and it could also show the other
data (which could update immediately, because a list in a UserForm behaves
better than a dropdown form field). When you're satisfied with the
selection, you click the OK button, and the code in the UserForm drops the
selected data into bookmarks in the document. The document doesn't have to
be protected, so there's no messing with form fields.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

trailerparkboy wrote:
That's excellent. Thank you.
I managed to get the drop down menu and related fields to display on
my own form. Now I just have two questions:

1) When I open the form, do I always have to click on the 'protect
form' padlock and then select the name from the drop down list? And
then deselect it so I can fill in other fields in my form? The drop
down list doesn't work unless I click on the padlock correct? Maybe
I'm not doing something right here.

2) After selecting from the drop down, I have to hit 'Tab' for the
fields to display the corresponding information for that item. Is it
possible to have these fields filled in as soon as I click on the
menu item, so I don't have to hit 'Tab'.

Thanks!



"Jay Freedman" wrote:

OK, for this you will need a macro, and you're correct that a working
example is really the only way to show how to do it.

Download http://jay-freedman.info/sampleform.zip and unzip the
template inside it into your Word Templates folder (the location is
shown in the Tools Options File Locations dialog). Then use File
New to create a document based on the template. The top of the
page is the working form, and the bottom part explains how it works.

To adapt the template for your use:
- Use the File Open dialog, navigate to the Templates folder, and
open the template itself (rather than a document based on it).
- Click the lock icon on the Forms toolbar to unlock it.
- Move the fields around, change the text, add new fields, etc.
- If you change the names of the fields involved in the automatic
filling, you'll also have to change those names in the last few lines
of the macro.
- Put the correct data into the macro. [Note: The names listed in the
macro aren't actually used for anything; they're there to remind you
of the order to place the other data in. The names used in the form
are stored in the dropdown field, not in the macro.]
- Click the lock icon again to turn it on.
- Save the template.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Mon, 15 May 2006 15:01:01 -0700, trailerparkboy
wrote:

Thanks for your quick reply. I have checked those links and try and
determine what works best for me in this situation.

To answer your questions and be more specific, basically I have a
Word template that has some text fields. On this form there is a
drop down menu with the names of 3 people. When someone selects one
of those names, a few other fields will auto-populate with
information specific to that person (ie their e-mail address,
title, etc.)

The user won't need to modify the results. They should be able to
select a different person for a different result. People will be
saving this document, printing it, or e-mailing it.

If I had a simple sample document of this in action, that would be
ideal, so I could modify it to my needs. I did some searching in
this forum and found some info on adding a macro, but I'm worried
it would take me too long to get it working.

Thanks!

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

I'm not quite clear on what kind of 'content' you want, but you
might be looking for an AutoTextList field
(http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFl...toTextList.htm).

If that isn't it, maybe it's something like this:
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Toggle_Data_Display.htm

If I still haven't hit it, try explaining with a more specific
example of how you want the document to work. What phrases should
be in the dropdown (or maybe some other kind of list would do),
and what sort of 'content' should be in the text box or field (or,
again, something else may be appropriate)? After the content
appears, should the user be able to modify it? Should they be able
to pick something else in the dropdown if they don't like the
result? What should be the ultimate use of the document (printing,
emailing, extracting the results into a database, etc.)?

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Mon, 15 May 2006 14:06:02 -0700, trailerparkboy
wrote:

Hello,
Is it possible to have a drop down menu in Word, and then
depending on which item the user selects, only content specific
to that item is displayed in a text box or field???

Thanks!

Let me know if I'm not making sense.

Thanks. I'm learning a lot.
Now I got the drop down to work and the related fields are filled in when
the user selects an item and hits 'Tab'.

So, for other fields in the form where the user can type in content, I need
to use the 'ab|' button from the forms toolbar and just click where they can
type something? I just need to understand how to ensure the form works
properly when it is emailed to someone else. Do other users need to go to the
forms toolbar and hit the protect form button? Will they get a popup asking
to enable macros? Is there anything I need to do when saving to make sure it
will work for other users?

Thanks. Hope that makes sense.

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

For #1, the "other fields" on your form should be actual form fields,
inserted from the Forms toolbar. The principle is that once the form is
protected, _only_ form fields (text fields, dropdowns, or check boxes) are
editable. Everything else is ... protected.

For #2, the answer is no, the fields can't be made to update immediately
when something is selected in the dropdown. The reason is that the macro
that fills the other fields is an "exit macro" -- Word runs it only when the
cursor exits from the dropdown.

There is an alternative that would solve both problems, but it's a bit more
complicated. Using VBA, you can create a custom dialog (Word calls it a
UserForm, which is a terribly confusing term). There's a short tutorial
about it at http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Userforms/CreateAUserForm.htm.

The macro that makes the dialog appear can be an AutoNew macro that runs
automatically when a new document is created from the template, or it can be
a regular macro started by a MacroButton field or a toolbar button. The
dialog would contain the list of people, and it could also show the other
data (which could update immediately, because a list in a UserForm behaves
better than a dropdown form field). When you're satisfied with the
selection, you click the OK button, and the code in the UserForm drops the
selected data into bookmarks in the document. The document doesn't have to
be protected, so there's no messing with form fields.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

trailerparkboy wrote:
That's excellent. Thank you.
I managed to get the drop down menu and related fields to display on
my own form. Now I just have two questions:

1) When I open the form, do I always have to click on the 'protect
form' padlock and then select the name from the drop down list? And
then deselect it so I can fill in other fields in my form? The drop
down list doesn't work unless I click on the padlock correct? Maybe
I'm not doing something right here.

2) After selecting from the drop down, I have to hit 'Tab' for the
fields to display the corresponding information for that item. Is it
possible to have these fields filled in as soon as I click on the
menu item, so I don't have to hit 'Tab'.

Thanks!



"Jay Freedman" wrote:

OK, for this you will need a macro, and you're correct that a working
example is really the only way to show how to do it.

Download http://jay-freedman.info/sampleform.zip and unzip the
template inside it into your Word Templates folder (the location is
shown in the Tools Options File Locations dialog). Then use File
New to create a document based on the template. The top of the
page is the working form, and the bottom part explains how it works.

To adapt the template for your use:
- Use the File Open dialog, navigate to the Templates folder, and
open the template itself (rather than a document based on it).
- Click the lock icon on the Forms toolbar to unlock it.
- Move the fields around, change the text, add new fields, etc.
- If you change the names of the fields involved in the automatic
filling, you'll also have to change those names in the last few lines
of the macro.
- Put the correct data into the macro. [Note: The names listed in the
macro aren't actually used for anything; they're there to remind you
of the order to place the other data in. The names used in the form
are stored in the dropdown field, not in the macro.]
- Click the lock icon again to turn it on.
- Save the template.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Mon, 15 May 2006 15:01:01 -0700, trailerparkboy
wrote:

Thanks for your quick reply. I have checked those links and try and
determine what works best for me in this situation.

To answer your questions and be more specific, basically I have a
Word template that has some text fields. On this form there is a
drop down menu with the names of 3 people. When someone selects one
of those names, a few other fields will auto-populate with
information specific to that person (ie their e-mail address,
title, etc.)

The user won't need to modify the results. They should be able to
select a different person for a different result. People will be
saving this document, printing it, or e-mailing it.

If I had a simple sample document of this in action, that would be
ideal, so I could modify it to my needs. I did some searching in
this forum and found some info on adding a macro, but I'm worried
it would take me too long to get it working.

Thanks!

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

I'm not quite clear on what kind of 'content' you want, but you
might be looking for an AutoTextList field
(http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFl...toTextList.htm).

If that isn't it, maybe it's something like this:
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Toggle_Data_Display.htm

If I still haven't hit it, try explaining with a more specific
example of how you want the document to work. What phrases should
be in the dropdown (or maybe some other kind of list would do),
and what sort of 'content' should be in the text box or field (or,
again, something else may be appropriate)? After the content
appears, should the user be able to modify it? Should they be able
to pick something else in the dropdown if they don't like the
result? What should be the ultimate use of the document (printing,
emailing, extracting the results into a database, etc.)?

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Mon, 15 May 2006 14:06:02 -0700, trailerparkboy
wrote:

Hello,
Is it possible to have a drop down menu in Word, and then
depending on which item the user selects, only content specific
to that item is displayed in a text box or field???

Thanks!

Let me know if I'm not making sense.

Yes, you need to insert text form fields (the 'ab|' button) wherever
the user needs to type content. Then you, the form designer, click the
lock button to protect the form, and save it. Send that file to the
users. They do *not* click the lock button -- the form is already
protected because you did it for them.

This is where the bad news really bites. :-(

- If the user has the macro security level (in Tools Macro
Security) set to Medium, there will be a popup when they open the
document, and they'll have to click the Enable button to allow the
macro to work.

- If the user has the macro security level set to High (or, in the
later versions of Word, to Very High), they won't see any popup (or
they might see a message that macros are disabled), and your macro
will never run. When the user tabs out of the dropdown, nothing will
happen in the other fields.

The only way to make the form operate properly even when the level is
High is to digitally sign the document. For that you need a signing
certificate, which can cost several hundred dollars, and even then the
users will have to respond to a dialog to explicitly accept the
certificate.

Personally, I keep my level set to Medium, because I don't open
documents whose origins I don't know, and I know how to look at a
macro and tell whether it's going to do something bad. Most users
don't have that knowledge, so High or Very High makes sense for them.
This drastic choice is forced on us by the lowlifes who write
malicious macros.

Before you send out the form to real users, I suggest you test it.
Mail it to yourself, preferably at a different computer. Open it and
make sure it works. Try it with different security levels so you know
how it behaves (close and reopen the form after each change in the
level). Fill in the fields, save the form, and mail it back to
yourself at the original computer; make sure you can retrieve the data
as expected. When you do send it to real users, include in the email
whatever instructions you think are necessary to help them use the
form successfully -- at least describe the security popup.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Wed, 24 May 2006 12:30:02 -0700, trailerparkboy
wrote:

Thanks. I'm learning a lot.
Now I got the drop down to work and the related fields are filled in when
the user selects an item and hits 'Tab'.

So, for other fields in the form where the user can type in content, I need
to use the 'ab|' button from the forms toolbar and just click where they can
type something? I just need to understand how to ensure the form works
properly when it is emailed to someone else. Do other users need to go to the
forms toolbar and hit the protect form button? Will they get a popup asking
to enable macros? Is there anything I need to do when saving to make sure it
will work for other users?

Thanks. Hope that makes sense.

Great. This should be my last question....
If I want to send it to someone else who will be editing the form and who
will be the 'form designer' in the future, do I just not lock it before I
save and email it to them? The person I send it to will need to edit the data
in the macro, add new fields to the form, and then send it out to employees.

thanks again!

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

Yes, you need to insert text form fields (the 'ab|' button) wherever
the user needs to type content. Then you, the form designer, click the
lock button to protect the form, and save it. Send that file to the
users. They do *not* click the lock button -- the form is already
protected because you did it for them.

This is where the bad news really bites. :-(

- If the user has the macro security level (in Tools Macro
Security) set to Medium, there will be a popup when they open the
document, and they'll have to click the Enable button to allow the
macro to work.

- If the user has the macro security level set to High (or, in the
later versions of Word, to Very High), they won't see any popup (or
they might see a message that macros are disabled), and your macro
will never run. When the user tabs out of the dropdown, nothing will
happen in the other fields.

The only way to make the form operate properly even when the level is
High is to digitally sign the document. For that you need a signing
certificate, which can cost several hundred dollars, and even then the
users will have to respond to a dialog to explicitly accept the
certificate.

Personally, I keep my level set to Medium, because I don't open
documents whose origins I don't know, and I know how to look at a
macro and tell whether it's going to do something bad. Most users
don't have that knowledge, so High or Very High makes sense for them.
This drastic choice is forced on us by the lowlifes who write
malicious macros.

Before you send out the form to real users, I suggest you test it.
Mail it to yourself, preferably at a different computer. Open it and
make sure it works. Try it with different security levels so you know
how it behaves (close and reopen the form after each change in the
level). Fill in the fields, save the form, and mail it back to
yourself at the original computer; make sure you can retrieve the data
as expected. When you do send it to real users, include in the email
whatever instructions you think are necessary to help them use the
form successfully -- at least describe the security popup.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Wed, 24 May 2006 12:30:02 -0700, trailerparkboy
wrote:

Thanks. I'm learning a lot.
Now I got the drop down to work and the related fields are filled in when
the user selects an item and hits 'Tab'.

So, for other fields in the form where the user can type in content, I need
to use the 'ab|' button from the forms toolbar and just click where they can
type something? I just need to understand how to ensure the form works
properly when it is emailed to someone else. Do other users need to go to the
forms toolbar and hit the protect form button? Will they get a popup asking
to enable macros? Is there anything I need to do when saving to make sure it
will work for other users?

Thanks. Hope that makes sense.

Whether you lock it or not before sending it to the 'form designer' person
doesn't really matter -- if you do lock it, they'll just have to unlock it
before changing any fields, and lock and save it again afterwards. When it
goes out to the employees, it must be locked; it can be locked and unlocked
any number of times before that.

When either of you 'form designers' locks the form, you have the option of
supplying a password that has to be entered to unlock the form. If you use
it, both of you should know what the password is (though I'd be embarrassed
to tell you how easy it is to get around the protection).

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

trailerparkboy wrote:
Great. This should be my last question....
If I want to send it to someone else who will be editing the form and
who will be the 'form designer' in the future, do I just not lock it
before I save and email it to them? The person I send it to will need
to edit the data in the macro, add new fields to the form, and then
send it out to employees.

thanks again!

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

Yes, you need to insert text form fields (the 'ab|' button) wherever
the user needs to type content. Then you, the form designer, click
the lock button to protect the form, and save it. Send that file to
the users. They do *not* click the lock button -- the form is already
protected because you did it for them.

This is where the bad news really bites. :-(

- If the user has the macro security level (in Tools Macro
Security) set to Medium, there will be a popup when they open the
document, and they'll have to click the Enable button to allow the
macro to work.

- If the user has the macro security level set to High (or, in the
later versions of Word, to Very High), they won't see any popup (or
they might see a message that macros are disabled), and your macro
will never run. When the user tabs out of the dropdown, nothing will
happen in the other fields.

The only way to make the form operate properly even when the level is
High is to digitally sign the document. For that you need a signing
certificate, which can cost several hundred dollars, and even then
the users will have to respond to a dialog to explicitly accept the
certificate.

Personally, I keep my level set to Medium, because I don't open
documents whose origins I don't know, and I know how to look at a
macro and tell whether it's going to do something bad. Most users
don't have that knowledge, so High or Very High makes sense for them.
This drastic choice is forced on us by the lowlifes who write
malicious macros.

Before you send out the form to real users, I suggest you test it.
Mail it to yourself, preferably at a different computer. Open it and
make sure it works. Try it with different security levels so you know
how it behaves (close and reopen the form after each change in the
level). Fill in the fields, save the form, and mail it back to
yourself at the original computer; make sure you can retrieve the
data as expected. When you do send it to real users, include in the
email whatever instructions you think are necessary to help them use
the form successfully -- at least describe the security popup.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Wed, 24 May 2006 12:30:02 -0700, trailerparkboy
wrote:

Thanks. I'm learning a lot.
Now I got the drop down to work and the related fields are filled
in when the user selects an item and hits 'Tab'.

So, for other fields in the form where the user can type in
content, I need to use the 'ab|' button from the forms toolbar and
just click where they can type something? I just need to understand
how to ensure the form works properly when it is emailed to someone
else. Do other users need to go to the forms toolbar and hit the
protect form button? Will they get a popup asking to enable macros?
Is there anything I need to do when saving to make sure it will
work for other users?

Thanks. Hope that makes sense.

[Mike G.]

Jay:
I'm working on what sounds like a similar issue and your link to your
template isn't working any longer. Could you re-list it?

My situation is that I have a protected Word Form. It is two colums and the
2nd column is unprotected with a continous break at the beginning and end of
column 2.

Problem is I posted the Word form on our intranet and instructued others to
complete the form, and use Send Mail To / Recipient / Send a Copy (To: field
is already populated with the names of the people to receive the form), the
form is received as HTML and the Check Boxes and Drop down boxes are blank.
The users are simple people and can't handle complications. Any suggestions?
The form has dropdowns, i.e. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and check boxes for
Milk, coffee, tea.

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

OK, for this you will need a macro, and you're correct that a working
example is really the only way to show how to do it.

Download http://jay-freedman.info/sampleform.zip and unzip the
template inside it into your Word Templates folder (the location is
shown in the Tools Options File Locations dialog). Then use File
New to create a document based on the template. The top of the page is
the working form, and the bottom part explains how it works.

To adapt the template for your use:
- Use the File Open dialog, navigate to the Templates folder, and
open the template itself (rather than a document based on it).
- Click the lock icon on the Forms toolbar to unlock it.
- Move the fields around, change the text, add new fields, etc.
- If you change the names of the fields involved in the automatic
filling, you'll also have to change those names in the last few lines
of the macro.
- Put the correct data into the macro. [Note: The names listed in the
macro aren't actually used for anything; they're there to remind you
of the order to place the other data in. The names used in the form
are stored in the dropdown field, not in the macro.]
- Click the lock icon again to turn it on.
- Save the template.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Mon, 15 May 2006 15:01:01 -0700, trailerparkboy
wrote:

Thanks for your quick reply. I have checked those links and try and determine
what works best for me in this situation.

To answer your questions and be more specific, basically I have a Word
template that has some text fields. On this form there is a drop down menu
with the names of 3 people. When someone selects one of those names, a few
other fields will auto-populate with information specific to that person (ie
their e-mail address, title, etc.)

The user won't need to modify the results. They should be able to select a
different person for a different result. People will be saving this document,
printing it, or e-mailing it.

If I had a simple sample document of this in action, that would be ideal, so
I could modify it to my needs. I did some searching in this forum and found
some info on adding a macro, but I'm worried it would take me too long to get
it working.

Thanks!

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

I'm not quite clear on what kind of 'content' you want, but you might
be looking for an AutoTextList field
(http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFl...oTextList.htm).

If that isn't it, maybe it's something like this:
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Toggle_Data_Display.htm

If I still haven't hit it, try explaining with a more specific example
of how you want the document to work. What phrases should be in the
dropdown (or maybe some other kind of list would do), and what sort of
'content' should be in the text box or field (or, again, something
else may be appropriate)? After the content appears, should the user
be able to modify it? Should they be able to pick something else in
the dropdown if they don't like the result? What should be the
ultimate use of the document (printing, emailing, extracting the
results into a database, etc.)?

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Mon, 15 May 2006 14:06:02 -0700, trailerparkboy
wrote:

Hello,
Is it possible to have a drop down menu in Word, and then depending on which
item the user selects, only content specific to that item is displayed in a
text box or field???

Thanks!

Let me know if I'm not making sense.

[snow flake[_2_]]

Yes please. i would like to use the zip file as well.

Best Regards,

snow

"Mike G." wrote:

Jay:
I'm working on what sounds like a similar issue and your link to your
template isn't working any longer. Could you re-list it?

My situation is that I have a protected Word Form. It is two colums and the
2nd column is unprotected with a continous break at the beginning and end of
column 2.

Problem is I posted the Word form on our intranet and instructued others to
complete the form, and use Send Mail To / Recipient / Send a Copy (To: field
is already populated with the names of the people to receive the form), the
form is received as HTML and the Check Boxes and Drop down boxes are blank.
The users are simple people and can't handle complications. Any suggestions?
The form has dropdowns, i.e. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and check boxes for
Milk, coffee, tea.

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

OK, for this you will need a macro, and you're correct that a working
example is really the only way to show how to do it.

Download http://jay-freedman.info/sampleform.zip and unzip the
template inside it into your Word Templates folder (the location is
shown in the Tools Options File Locations dialog). Then use File
New to create a document based on the template. The top of the page is
the working form, and the bottom part explains how it works.

To adapt the template for your use:
- Use the File Open dialog, navigate to the Templates folder, and
open the template itself (rather than a document based on it).
- Click the lock icon on the Forms toolbar to unlock it.
- Move the fields around, change the text, add new fields, etc.
- If you change the names of the fields involved in the automatic
filling, you'll also have to change those names in the last few lines
of the macro.
- Put the correct data into the macro. [Note: The names listed in the
macro aren't actually used for anything; they're there to remind you
of the order to place the other data in. The names used in the form
are stored in the dropdown field, not in the macro.]
- Click the lock icon again to turn it on.
- Save the template.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Mon, 15 May 2006 15:01:01 -0700, trailerparkboy
wrote:

Thanks for your quick reply. I have checked those links and try and determine
what works best for me in this situation.

To answer your questions and be more specific, basically I have a Word
template that has some text fields. On this form there is a drop down menu
with the names of 3 people. When someone selects one of those names, a few
other fields will auto-populate with information specific to that person (ie
their e-mail address, title, etc.)

The user won't need to modify the results. They should be able to select a
different person for a different result. People will be saving this document,
printing it, or e-mailing it.

If I had a simple sample document of this in action, that would be ideal, so
I could modify it to my needs. I did some searching in this forum and found
some info on adding a macro, but I'm worried it would take me too long to get
it working.

Thanks!

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

I'm not quite clear on what kind of 'content' you want, but you might
be looking for an AutoTextList field
(http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFl...oTextList.htm).

If that isn't it, maybe it's something like this:
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Toggle_Data_Display.htm

If I still haven't hit it, try explaining with a more specific example
of how you want the document to work. What phrases should be in the
dropdown (or maybe some other kind of list would do), and what sort of
'content' should be in the text box or field (or, again, something
else may be appropriate)? After the content appears, should the user
be able to modify it? Should they be able to pick something else in
the dropdown if they don't like the result? What should be the
ultimate use of the document (printing, emailing, extracting the
results into a database, etc.)?

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Mon, 15 May 2006 14:06:02 -0700, trailerparkboy
wrote:

Hello,
Is it possible to have a drop down menu in Word, and then depending on which
item the user selects, only content specific to that item is displayed in a
text box or field???

Thanks!

Let me know if I'm not making sense.