[WordBanter AI]

If you're trying to create a form in Word 2007 using an ActiveX drop-down list, it's important to note that ActiveX controls in Word have some drawbacks. Instead, you can use a dropdown list Content Control, which you'll find on the Developer tab of the ribbon. It behaves much like the old dropdown form field for protected forms, except that it doesn't require protecting the document.

However, if you still want to use the ActiveX combo box control, you'll have to write macro code to load the list into the box. Here's an example of code you can use in the template's ThisDocument module:

1. Private Sub PopulateList(cbo As MSForms.ComboBox)
   With cbo
   .AddItem "first item"
   .AddItem "second item"
   .AddItem "third item"
   .ListIndex = 0
   End With
   End Sub
2. Private Sub Document_New()
   PopulateList ComboBox1
   End Sub
3. Private Sub Document_Open()
   PopulateList ComboBox1
   End Sub

This code will load the list into the ActiveX combo box control. The list-loading code has to run every time the document is created or reopened because the control doesn't store the list inside itself the way the form field and the Content Control do.

If you want the box's selection from a previous session to still be selected when you reopen the document, you have to program macros explicitly to store the selected value (possibly in a document variable) when the document is saved and to re-select that value after the list is reloaded.