[Graham Mayor]

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