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#1
Posted to microsoft.public.word.tables,microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Lock cell for text entry - allow field update only? Also, floatingcomment?
In Word 2007, I would like to lock a table cell against users entering
text. I have a field code there which references text from elsewhere in the document. I want to prevent the users from "helping" me by entering text and overwriting the field code. But however it's locked, I need to allow the field to update. Also, can I set up a "floating comment" in that table cell, kind of like an Excel comment, to let the user know not to try to enter text? Thanks. Ed |
#2
Posted to microsoft.public.word.tables,microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Lock cell for text entry - allow field update only? Also, floating comment?
I am not sure you can do this using the old-style fields. I think there is
/a/ way to achieve most of what you want in Word 2007 using content controls, but I have not used it for real (so e.g. it may be much easier to break than I think), and it's not a particularly straightforward way. By way of example, let's suppose you use Insert-Quick Parts-Document Property-Comments to insert a plain text content control that inserts the built-in Comments document property. (if you use the method suggested in this post, you will eventually want to use your own Content Control rather than rely on the built-in properties - for that, I suggest you visit Greg Maxey's page at http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Mapped_Content_Control.htm ) Insert another copy of that Comments document property content control. Then type some text in the control and click outside the control. You should see the content of the other copy update immediately. This is different from the behaviour of old-style fields where the user typically had to do something for e.g. the results of REF fields to be updated. e.g. they might have to select everything and press F9, or go into print preview, or print, or save and re-open. But the content control values are linked to a data store in the .docx and when the dta changes, the control contents change. OK, now let's imagine you have the following document structu some text and other material including a copy of the Comments Content Control. a table some more text and other stuff In one cell in that table you want a cell whose content the users cannot update. First, just try inserting a copy of that Comments content control in that cell. Then, in the Developer tab, click Design Mode, and you should see some "tags" appear either side of the control. Now right-click the control and select Properties. (You may have to make sure you are selecting exactly the right thing for the Properties option to appear). Set "Title" to "You can't touch this" and check "Content Control cannot be Deleted" and "Contents Cannot be edited". These properties only affect this instance of the control. Click Design Mode again and notice that a. when you click the control in the table, you see "You can't touch this". OK, so there's no floating tooltip. b. you can't alter the content of the control in the table c. you can't delete the control in the table d. if you enter text in the other copy of the control and click outside the control, the content in the table updates. However, that's not quite enough, because if you click in the next cell, then left arrow, you can still type text between the content control and the end-of-cell marker. To prevent that (this is the part I'm not too keen on), click Developer-Protect Document-Restrict formatting and editing. In the task pane, ensure "Allow only this type of editing in the document" is checked, "No changes (Read only)" is selected. Obviously, that's not much use in a document that's intended to be edited, but we can specify that every part of the document except that cell is an exception. So... a. select all of the document down to the table row above the cell that contains the content control. Check Everyone. b. in the row containing the content control, select the cells before that cell, and check Everyone. c. in the row containing the content control, select the cells after that cell, and check Everyone. d. select the cells in the row before the cell containing the content control, and check Everyone. e. select everything after that row and check Everyone. Click "Yes, Start Enforcing Protection" and add whatever passwords you want. For test purposes, you can leave this blank. Notice that a. the text in the unprotected area acquires a yellow background but previews OK b. you can edit most of the document in the usual way c. although you can still click in the protected cell, - you see "You can't touch this" - you can't edit anything d. if you modify the comment text in the control outside the table, the copy in the table still updates. This is important, because if you put an old-style REF field in the cell instead of a content control, modify the bookmark text that it references, and try to update the REF field, it does not change in the protected part of the document. So I think you /have/ to use a content control to do this. The last piece of this puzzle is how to modify the data that appears in that cell. If the content control is mapped to a built-in property, you can modify it any way that you could modify a built-in property before, e.g. a. insert a field such as { COMMENTS "new comment text" } or { INFO COMMENTS "new comment text" } and update it. (This approach only works for some of the built-in properties - title, author, comments, keywords and subject I think) b. use VBA to modify the value of the built-in Comments property, e.g. Sub SetCommentsText() ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties(wdPropert yComments) = "even newer text" End Sub or Sub SetCommentsText() ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("Comments ") = "even newer text" End Sub If you use Greg Maxey's add-in or another approach to create your own content control, you will probably need to update the value of the data in the document's XML daa store to achieve the same thing. I think Greg's pages provide enough info. to work out how to do that but post back if you can't work it out. -- Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk "Ed from AZ" wrote in message ... In Word 2007, I would like to lock a table cell against users entering text. I have a field code there which references text from elsewhere in the document. I want to prevent the users from "helping" me by entering text and overwriting the field code. But however it's locked, I need to allow the field to update. Also, can I set up a "floating comment" in that table cell, kind of like an Excel comment, to let the user know not to try to enter text? Thanks. Ed |
#3
Posted to microsoft.public.word.tables,microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Lock cell for text entry - allow field update only? Also, floating comment?
One note, Peter, wrt legacy forms. When you check the box for "Calculate on
exit" in the Form Field Options for a text or dropdown form field, a REF field referring to that field *does* update automatically and immediately. StyleRef fields also update immediately in any kind of document (and in places in forms where you can't use REF fields, such as the header and footer). -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA "Peter Jamieson" wrote in message ... I am not sure you can do this using the old-style fields. I think there is /a/ way to achieve most of what you want in Word 2007 using content controls, but I have not used it for real (so e.g. it may be much easier to break than I think), and it's not a particularly straightforward way. By way of example, let's suppose you use Insert-Quick Parts-Document Property-Comments to insert a plain text content control that inserts the built-in Comments document property. (if you use the method suggested in this post, you will eventually want to use your own Content Control rather than rely on the built-in properties - for that, I suggest you visit Greg Maxey's page at http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Mapped_Content_Control.htm ) Insert another copy of that Comments document property content control. Then type some text in the control and click outside the control. You should see the content of the other copy update immediately. This is different from the behaviour of old-style fields where the user typically had to do something for e.g. the results of REF fields to be updated. e.g. they might have to select everything and press F9, or go into print preview, or print, or save and re-open. But the content control values are linked to a data store in the .docx and when the dta changes, the control contents change. OK, now let's imagine you have the following document structu some text and other material including a copy of the Comments Content Control. a table some more text and other stuff In one cell in that table you want a cell whose content the users cannot update. First, just try inserting a copy of that Comments content control in that cell. Then, in the Developer tab, click Design Mode, and you should see some "tags" appear either side of the control. Now right-click the control and select Properties. (You may have to make sure you are selecting exactly the right thing for the Properties option to appear). Set "Title" to "You can't touch this" and check "Content Control cannot be Deleted" and "Contents Cannot be edited". These properties only affect this instance of the control. Click Design Mode again and notice that a. when you click the control in the table, you see "You can't touch this". OK, so there's no floating tooltip. b. you can't alter the content of the control in the table c. you can't delete the control in the table d. if you enter text in the other copy of the control and click outside the control, the content in the table updates. However, that's not quite enough, because if you click in the next cell, then left arrow, you can still type text between the content control and the end-of-cell marker. To prevent that (this is the part I'm not too keen on), click Developer-Protect Document-Restrict formatting and editing. In the task pane, ensure "Allow only this type of editing in the document" is checked, "No changes (Read only)" is selected. Obviously, that's not much use in a document that's intended to be edited, but we can specify that every part of the document except that cell is an exception. So... a. select all of the document down to the table row above the cell that contains the content control. Check Everyone. b. in the row containing the content control, select the cells before that cell, and check Everyone. c. in the row containing the content control, select the cells after that cell, and check Everyone. d. select the cells in the row before the cell containing the content control, and check Everyone. e. select everything after that row and check Everyone. Click "Yes, Start Enforcing Protection" and add whatever passwords you want. For test purposes, you can leave this blank. Notice that a. the text in the unprotected area acquires a yellow background but previews OK b. you can edit most of the document in the usual way c. although you can still click in the protected cell, - you see "You can't touch this" - you can't edit anything d. if you modify the comment text in the control outside the table, the copy in the table still updates. This is important, because if you put an old-style REF field in the cell instead of a content control, modify the bookmark text that it references, and try to update the REF field, it does not change in the protected part of the document. So I think you /have/ to use a content control to do this. The last piece of this puzzle is how to modify the data that appears in that cell. If the content control is mapped to a built-in property, you can modify it any way that you could modify a built-in property before, e.g. a. insert a field such as { COMMENTS "new comment text" } or { INFO COMMENTS "new comment text" } and update it. (This approach only works for some of the built-in properties - title, author, comments, keywords and subject I think) b. use VBA to modify the value of the built-in Comments property, e.g. Sub SetCommentsText() ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties(wdPropert yComments) = "even newer text" End Sub or Sub SetCommentsText() ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("Comments ") = "even newer text" End Sub If you use Greg Maxey's add-in or another approach to create your own content control, you will probably need to update the value of the data in the document's XML daa store to achieve the same thing. I think Greg's pages provide enough info. to work out how to do that but post back if you can't work it out. -- Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk "Ed from AZ" wrote in message ... In Word 2007, I would like to lock a table cell against users entering text. I have a field code there which references text from elsewhere in the document. I want to prevent the users from "helping" me by entering text and overwriting the field code. But however it's locked, I need to allow the field to update. Also, can I set up a "floating comment" in that table cell, kind of like an Excel comment, to let the user know not to try to enter text? Thanks. Ed |
#4
Posted to microsoft.public.word.tables,microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Lock cell for text entry - allow field update only? Also, floating comment?
Yes, both good points, although I think STYLEREF fields only update
automatically in headers and footers and not when they are in the body of the document. Incidentally, when I first looked at this problem, I wondered if it would be possible to use legacy forms protection - if you could actually start a continuous section break immediately before the cell you wanted to protect, and another one immediately after, it would probably be feasible. But you can only break before and after the row which means you can't do it unless your cell is in a single-column table. That said, itmay be one of those cases where there is a completely different approach that a different description of the intent might elicit. -- Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message ... One note, Peter, wrt legacy forms. When you check the box for "Calculate on exit" in the Form Field Options for a text or dropdown form field, a REF field referring to that field *does* update automatically and immediately. StyleRef fields also update immediately in any kind of document (and in places in forms where you can't use REF fields, such as the header and footer). -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA "Peter Jamieson" wrote in message ... I am not sure you can do this using the old-style fields. I think there is /a/ way to achieve most of what you want in Word 2007 using content controls, but I have not used it for real (so e.g. it may be much easier to break than I think), and it's not a particularly straightforward way. By way of example, let's suppose you use Insert-Quick Parts-Document Property-Comments to insert a plain text content control that inserts the built-in Comments document property. (if you use the method suggested in this post, you will eventually want to use your own Content Control rather than rely on the built-in properties - for that, I suggest you visit Greg Maxey's page at http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Mapped_Content_Control.htm ) Insert another copy of that Comments document property content control. Then type some text in the control and click outside the control. You should see the content of the other copy update immediately. This is different from the behaviour of old-style fields where the user typically had to do something for e.g. the results of REF fields to be updated. e.g. they might have to select everything and press F9, or go into print preview, or print, or save and re-open. But the content control values are linked to a data store in the .docx and when the dta changes, the control contents change. OK, now let's imagine you have the following document structu some text and other material including a copy of the Comments Content Control. a table some more text and other stuff In one cell in that table you want a cell whose content the users cannot update. First, just try inserting a copy of that Comments content control in that cell. Then, in the Developer tab, click Design Mode, and you should see some "tags" appear either side of the control. Now right-click the control and select Properties. (You may have to make sure you are selecting exactly the right thing for the Properties option to appear). Set "Title" to "You can't touch this" and check "Content Control cannot be Deleted" and "Contents Cannot be edited". These properties only affect this instance of the control. Click Design Mode again and notice that a. when you click the control in the table, you see "You can't touch this". OK, so there's no floating tooltip. b. you can't alter the content of the control in the table c. you can't delete the control in the table d. if you enter text in the other copy of the control and click outside the control, the content in the table updates. However, that's not quite enough, because if you click in the next cell, then left arrow, you can still type text between the content control and the end-of-cell marker. To prevent that (this is the part I'm not too keen on), click Developer-Protect Document-Restrict formatting and editing. In the task pane, ensure "Allow only this type of editing in the document" is checked, "No changes (Read only)" is selected. Obviously, that's not much use in a document that's intended to be edited, but we can specify that every part of the document except that cell is an exception. So... a. select all of the document down to the table row above the cell that contains the content control. Check Everyone. b. in the row containing the content control, select the cells before that cell, and check Everyone. c. in the row containing the content control, select the cells after that cell, and check Everyone. d. select the cells in the row before the cell containing the content control, and check Everyone. e. select everything after that row and check Everyone. Click "Yes, Start Enforcing Protection" and add whatever passwords you want. For test purposes, you can leave this blank. Notice that a. the text in the unprotected area acquires a yellow background but previews OK b. you can edit most of the document in the usual way c. although you can still click in the protected cell, - you see "You can't touch this" - you can't edit anything d. if you modify the comment text in the control outside the table, the copy in the table still updates. This is important, because if you put an old-style REF field in the cell instead of a content control, modify the bookmark text that it references, and try to update the REF field, it does not change in the protected part of the document. So I think you /have/ to use a content control to do this. The last piece of this puzzle is how to modify the data that appears in that cell. If the content control is mapped to a built-in property, you can modify it any way that you could modify a built-in property before, e.g. a. insert a field such as { COMMENTS "new comment text" } or { INFO COMMENTS "new comment text" } and update it. (This approach only works for some of the built-in properties - title, author, comments, keywords and subject I think) b. use VBA to modify the value of the built-in Comments property, e.g. Sub SetCommentsText() ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties(wdPropert yComments) = "even newer text" End Sub or Sub SetCommentsText() ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("Comments ") = "even newer text" End Sub If you use Greg Maxey's add-in or another approach to create your own content control, you will probably need to update the value of the data in the document's XML daa store to achieve the same thing. I think Greg's pages provide enough info. to work out how to do that but post back if you can't work it out. -- Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk "Ed from AZ" wrote in message ... In Word 2007, I would like to lock a table cell against users entering text. I have a field code there which references text from elsewhere in the document. I want to prevent the users from "helping" me by entering text and overwriting the field code. But however it's locked, I need to allow the field to update. Also, can I set up a "floating comment" in that table cell, kind of like an Excel comment, to let the user know not to try to enter text? Thanks. Ed |
#5
Posted to microsoft.public.word.tables,microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Lock cell for text entry - allow field update only? Also, floating comment?
In my experience, StyleRef fields update automatically (and immediately)
wherever they are placed, at least in ordinary documents--don't know about protected ones. I'm not suggesting them or legacy forms for this assignment, just pointing this out. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA "Peter Jamieson" wrote in message ... Yes, both good points, although I think STYLEREF fields only update automatically in headers and footers and not when they are in the body of the document. Incidentally, when I first looked at this problem, I wondered if it would be possible to use legacy forms protection - if you could actually start a continuous section break immediately before the cell you wanted to protect, and another one immediately after, it would probably be feasible. But you can only break before and after the row which means you can't do it unless your cell is in a single-column table. That said, itmay be one of those cases where there is a completely different approach that a different description of the intent might elicit. -- Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message ... One note, Peter, wrt legacy forms. When you check the box for "Calculate on exit" in the Form Field Options for a text or dropdown form field, a REF field referring to that field *does* update automatically and immediately. StyleRef fields also update immediately in any kind of document (and in places in forms where you can't use REF fields, such as the header and footer). -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA "Peter Jamieson" wrote in message ... I am not sure you can do this using the old-style fields. I think there is /a/ way to achieve most of what you want in Word 2007 using content controls, but I have not used it for real (so e.g. it may be much easier to break than I think), and it's not a particularly straightforward way. By way of example, let's suppose you use Insert-Quick Parts-Document Property-Comments to insert a plain text content control that inserts the built-in Comments document property. (if you use the method suggested in this post, you will eventually want to use your own Content Control rather than rely on the built-in properties - for that, I suggest you visit Greg Maxey's page at http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Mapped_Content_Control.htm ) Insert another copy of that Comments document property content control. Then type some text in the control and click outside the control. You should see the content of the other copy update immediately. This is different from the behaviour of old-style fields where the user typically had to do something for e.g. the results of REF fields to be updated. e.g. they might have to select everything and press F9, or go into print preview, or print, or save and re-open. But the content control values are linked to a data store in the .docx and when the dta changes, the control contents change. OK, now let's imagine you have the following document structu some text and other material including a copy of the Comments Content Control. a table some more text and other stuff In one cell in that table you want a cell whose content the users cannot update. First, just try inserting a copy of that Comments content control in that cell. Then, in the Developer tab, click Design Mode, and you should see some "tags" appear either side of the control. Now right-click the control and select Properties. (You may have to make sure you are selecting exactly the right thing for the Properties option to appear). Set "Title" to "You can't touch this" and check "Content Control cannot be Deleted" and "Contents Cannot be edited". These properties only affect this instance of the control. Click Design Mode again and notice that a. when you click the control in the table, you see "You can't touch this". OK, so there's no floating tooltip. b. you can't alter the content of the control in the table c. you can't delete the control in the table d. if you enter text in the other copy of the control and click outside the control, the content in the table updates. However, that's not quite enough, because if you click in the next cell, then left arrow, you can still type text between the content control and the end-of-cell marker. To prevent that (this is the part I'm not too keen on), click Developer-Protect Document-Restrict formatting and editing. In the task pane, ensure "Allow only this type of editing in the document" is checked, "No changes (Read only)" is selected. Obviously, that's not much use in a document that's intended to be edited, but we can specify that every part of the document except that cell is an exception. So... a. select all of the document down to the table row above the cell that contains the content control. Check Everyone. b. in the row containing the content control, select the cells before that cell, and check Everyone. c. in the row containing the content control, select the cells after that cell, and check Everyone. d. select the cells in the row before the cell containing the content control, and check Everyone. e. select everything after that row and check Everyone. Click "Yes, Start Enforcing Protection" and add whatever passwords you want. For test purposes, you can leave this blank. Notice that a. the text in the unprotected area acquires a yellow background but previews OK b. you can edit most of the document in the usual way c. although you can still click in the protected cell, - you see "You can't touch this" - you can't edit anything d. if you modify the comment text in the control outside the table, the copy in the table still updates. This is important, because if you put an old-style REF field in the cell instead of a content control, modify the bookmark text that it references, and try to update the REF field, it does not change in the protected part of the document. So I think you /have/ to use a content control to do this. The last piece of this puzzle is how to modify the data that appears in that cell. If the content control is mapped to a built-in property, you can modify it any way that you could modify a built-in property before, e.g. a. insert a field such as { COMMENTS "new comment text" } or { INFO COMMENTS "new comment text" } and update it. (This approach only works for some of the built-in properties - title, author, comments, keywords and subject I think) b. use VBA to modify the value of the built-in Comments property, e.g. Sub SetCommentsText() ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties(wdPropert yComments) = "even newer text" End Sub or Sub SetCommentsText() ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("Comments ") = "even newer text" End Sub If you use Greg Maxey's add-in or another approach to create your own content control, you will probably need to update the value of the data in the document's XML daa store to achieve the same thing. I think Greg's pages provide enough info. to work out how to do that but post back if you can't work it out. -- Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk "Ed from AZ" wrote in message ... In Word 2007, I would like to lock a table cell against users entering text. I have a field code there which references text from elsewhere in the document. I want to prevent the users from "helping" me by entering text and overwriting the field code. But however it's locked, I need to allow the field to update. Also, can I set up a "floating comment" in that table cell, kind of like an Excel comment, to let the user know not to try to enter text? Thanks. Ed |
#6
Posted to microsoft.public.word.tables,microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Lock cell for text entry - allow field update only? Also,floating comment?
Sorry for the delay in replying. I hate it when work grabs you like
that!! I wound up using -- a character style in the the type-in cells I want repeated -- a StyleRef field in the cells I want the info to show in -- protecting everything and then unprotecting all but the forbidden parts. I'd have to play with Greg Maxey's instructions a bit to understand what I'm doing, and I just didn't have time. But that is well worth looking at, and I greatly appreciate the time both of you took to help me out. Ed On Jul 19, 5:03*pm, "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote: In my experience, StyleRef fields update automatically (and immediately) wherever they are placed, at least in ordinary documents--don't know about protected ones. I'm not suggesting them or legacy forms for this assignment, just pointing this out. -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA "Peter Jamieson" wrote in message ... Yes, both good points, although I think STYLEREF fields only update automatically in headers and footers and not when they are in the body of the document. Incidentally, when I first looked at this problem, I wondered if it would be possible to use legacy forms protection - if you could actually start a continuous section break immediately before the cell you wanted to protect, and another one immediately after, it would probably be feasible. But you can only break before and after the row which means you can't do it unless your cell is in a single-column table. That said, itmay be one of those cases where there is a completely different approach that a different description of the intent might elicit. -- Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk "Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message ... One note, Peter, wrt legacy forms. When you check the box for "Calculate on exit" in the Form Field Options for a text or dropdown form field, a REF field referring to that field *does* update automatically and immediately. StyleRef fields also update immediately in any kind of document (and in places in forms where you can't use REF fields, such as the header and footer). -- Suzanne S. Barnhill Microsoft MVP (Word) Words into Type Fairhope, Alabama USA "Peter Jamieson" wrote in message .. . I am not sure you can do this using the old-style fields. I think there is /a/ way to achieve most of what you want in Word 2007 using content controls, but I have not used it for real (so e.g. it may be much easier to break than I think), and it's not a particularly straightforward way. By way of example, let's suppose you use Insert-Quick Parts-Document Property-Comments to insert a plain text content control that inserts the built-in Comments document property. (if you use the method suggested in this post, you will eventually want to use your own Content Control rather than rely on the built-in properties - for that, I suggest you visit Greg Maxey's page at http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Mapped_Content_Control.htm) Insert another copy of that Comments document property content control. Then type some text in the control and click outside the control. You should see the content of the other copy update immediately. This is different from the behaviour of old-style fields where the user typically had to do something for e.g. the results of REF fields to be updated. e.g. they might have to select everything and press F9, or go into print preview, or print, or save and re-open. But the content control values are linked to a data store in the .docx and when the dta changes, the control contents change. OK, now let's imagine you have the following document structu some text and other material including a copy of the Comments Content Control. a table some more text and other stuff In one cell in that table you want a cell whose content the users cannot update. First, just try inserting a copy of that Comments content control in that cell. Then, in the Developer tab, click Design Mode, and you should see some "tags" appear either side of the control. Now right-click the control and select Properties. (You may have to make sure you are selecting exactly the right thing for the Properties option to appear). Set "Title" to "You can't touch this" and check "Content Control cannot be Deleted" and "Contents Cannot be edited". These properties only affect this instance of the control. Click Design Mode again and notice that a. when you click the control in the table, you see "You can't touch this". OK, so there's no floating tooltip. b. you can't alter the content of the control in the table c. you can't delete the control in the table d. if you enter text in the other copy of the control and click outside the control, the content in the table updates. However, that's not quite enough, because if you click in the next cell, then left arrow, you can still type text between the content control and the end-of-cell marker. To prevent that (this is the part I'm not too keen on), click Developer-Protect Document-Restrict formatting and editing. In the task pane, ensure "Allow only this type of editing in the document" is checked, "No changes (Read only)" is selected. Obviously, that's not much use in a document that's intended to be edited, but we can specify that every part of the document except that cell is an exception. So.... a. select all of the document down to the table row above the cell that contains the content control. Check Everyone. b. in the row containing the content control, select the cells before that cell, and check Everyone. c. in the row containing the content control, select the cells after that cell, and check Everyone. d. select the cells in the row before the cell containing the content control, and check Everyone. e. select everything after that row and check Everyone. Click "Yes, Start Enforcing Protection" and add whatever passwords you want. For test purposes, you can leave this blank. Notice that a. the text in the unprotected area acquires a yellow background but previews OK b. you can edit most of the document in the usual way c. although you can still click in the protected cell, * *- you see "You can't touch this" * *- you can't edit anything d. if you modify the comment text in the control outside the table, the copy in the table still updates. This is important, because if you put an old-style REF field in the cell instead of a content control, modify the bookmark text that it references, and try to update the REF field, it does not change in the protected part of the document. So I think you /have/ to use a content control to do this. The last piece of this puzzle is how to modify the data that appears in that cell. If the content control is mapped to a built-in property, you can modify it any way that you could modify a built-in property before, e.g. a. insert a field such as { COMMENTS "new comment text" } or { INFO COMMENTS "new comment text" } and update it. (This approach only works for some of the built-in properties - title, author, comments, keywords and subject I think) b. use VBA to modify the value of the built-in Comments property, e.g.. Sub SetCommentsText() ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties(wdPropert yComments) = "even newer text" End Sub or Sub SetCommentsText() ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties("Comments ") = "even newer text" End Sub If you use Greg Maxey's add-in or another approach to create your own content control, you will probably need to update the value of the data in the document's XML daa store to achieve the same thing. I think Greg's pages provide enough info. to work out how to do that but post back if you can't work it out. -- Peter Jamieson http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk "Ed from AZ" wrote in message .... In Word 2007, I would like to lock a table cell against users entering text. *I have a field code there which references text from elsewhere in the document. *I want to prevent the users from "helping" me by entering text and overwriting the field code. *But however it's locked, I need to allow the field to update. Also, can I set up a "floating comment" in that table cell, kind of like an Excel comment, to let the user know not to try to enter text? Thanks. Ed- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - |
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