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Migrating Forms created in Word 2003 to Word 2007
I had developed an Invoice Form in Word 2003. It allowed me to go into a
contact in Outlook, use the mail merge feature there, and select an existing document (i.e., the generic invoice form) and then generate an invoice pre-filled with the client address information. Then the form automatically filled in a date field, and allowed me to enter some data such as "work performed", "hours", "rate discount", etc. and then it calculated the various sub-totals (e.g., parts and labor) and then computed the final totals. It worked great. I turned on protection to fill in the form and let it calculate the results. Now I have "upgraded" to Word 2007 and I am ready to tear my hair out! Outlook still allows me to merge a contact into my old invoice form, but then the trouble begins. If I protect the form, none of the legacy fields can be filled in. It only recognizes fields added with the new 2007 field formats. Also, before, when I opened up the newly created document after clicking "Okay" in Outlook to perform the merge, the resulting document had already been "merged" and it was ready for me to click "protect" and then enter new data and have it automatically calculate. Now it opens a document that has a button that says "complete merge." If I do so, I lose all aspects of the "form" fields. In essence, BEFORE I had a nice solution that allowed Mail Merge and Forms to work perfectly together. Now, instead of what was once simple elegance to create form fields, when you click on field properties in Word 2007, it opens up a Visual Basic scripting tool!! That is not user-friendly! Although the "legacy" fields still exist, they do not work as they once did, namely the protect feature does not recognize them as legitimate fields to be filled out. And there is no equivalent of the simple-to-use "calculated" field, rather there is a complex scripting language (VBS) to be dealt with. Perhaps I am missing something... even though I have struggled with every combo I can think of to make it work in the new version of Word!! If anyone else has experienced any similar trials with converting their old 2003 functioning forms into Word 2007, I would be most grateful to hear how you made it work! THANKS! PS The title did not show properly in my first post. Sorry about that! |
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#2
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Migrating Forms created in Word 2003 to Word 2007
If you still have access to Word 2003, you can add the controls from the old
Forms toolbar - I used the forms toolbar as an example at http://www.gmayor.com/Toolbars_in_word_2007.htm . This should allow you to Word much as before. Fields you protect with the lock button on the old toolbar will still be refillable. As for the integration with Outlook, I cannot comment. Protected forms and mail merge never worked happily together. If you are reading addresses from Outlook, you may find http://www.gmayor.com/Macrobutton.htm useful. This method works with Office 2007 and may be integrated with the new form controls to give you what you want? -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Donna wrote: I had developed an Invoice Form in Word 2003. It allowed me to go into a contact in Outlook, use the mail merge feature there, and select an existing document (i.e., the generic invoice form) and then generate an invoice pre-filled with the client address information. Then the form automatically filled in a date field, and allowed me to enter some data such as "work performed", "hours", "rate discount", etc. and then it calculated the various sub-totals (e.g., parts and labor) and then computed the final totals. It worked great. I turned on protection to fill in the form and let it calculate the results. Now I have "upgraded" to Word 2007 and I am ready to tear my hair out! Outlook still allows me to merge a contact into my old invoice form, but then the trouble begins. If I protect the form, none of the legacy fields can be filled in. It only recognizes fields added with the new 2007 field formats. Also, before, when I opened up the newly created document after clicking "Okay" in Outlook to perform the merge, the resulting document had already been "merged" and it was ready for me to click "protect" and then enter new data and have it automatically calculate. Now it opens a document that has a button that says "complete merge." If I do so, I lose all aspects of the "form" fields. In essence, BEFORE I had a nice solution that allowed Mail Merge and Forms to work perfectly together. Now, instead of what was once simple elegance to create form fields, when you click on field properties in Word 2007, it opens up a Visual Basic scripting tool!! That is not user-friendly! Although the "legacy" fields still exist, they do not work as they once did, namely the protect feature does not recognize them as legitimate fields to be filled out. And there is no equivalent of the simple-to-use "calculated" field, rather there is a complex scripting language (VBS) to be dealt with. Perhaps I am missing something... even though I have struggled with every combo I can think of to make it work in the new version of Word!! If anyone else has experienced any similar trials with converting their old 2003 functioning forms into Word 2007, I would be most grateful to hear how you made it work! THANKS! PS The title did not show properly in my first post. Sorry about that! |
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#3
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Migrating Forms created in Word 2003 to Word 2007
Thank you, Graham, for your quick response. I will research the 3 links in
your post. To answer your question access to Word 2003, I do not believe you can upgrade to 2007 and leave 2003 on your PC, so, no, I do not have the old program installed - that is exactly my frustration! Everything worked perfectly in 2003, it is 2007 that does not seem to be backwardly compatible and hence my old forms no longer work as before. Usually, a new release is an upgrade and you shouldnt need to go back to the old version. I have 2003 loaded on other PC's here and I could always reload it on this PC as well but I thought the whole point of a new version was to have a BETTER product. I am so frustrated with the new release. I was a beta tester for several months and started to like some things about the new version and I assumed the bugs would be cured in the final release, but alas.... I will now go check the sites you mention - thanks again! BTW, just curious, do YOU use Word 2007? |
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#4
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Migrating Forms created in Word 2003 to Word 2007
Well I sort of developed a work-around - there may be an easier way but here
it is in case anyone else needs this... I divided the document into 2 docs: Part 1 and Part2. Part 1 is just the mail merge table for name and address fields. Part 2 is the forms part with a placeholder table for the mailmerge data from Part 1. I perform the merge out of Outlook using €śexisting doc€ť Part1 and then in the new document created by that process, I click on "Finish and merge," with the option to "edit individual" results. I then cut and paste the name and address section into Part 2's placeholder table. The form can now be filled in using the Protect document feature without wiping out the N&A fields, since they have become merely text and not active fields any longer. The problem seems to be that you can no longer use mail merge and forms in the SAME document. If you merge, it wipes out the ability to fill in a form or if you can fill in the form it wipes out the mail merge data. Too bad - it used to work fine in Word 2003! (I may have mentioned that a few hundred times, huh! Sorry, just frustrated!) LOL, Donna :-) "Donna" wrote: I had developed an Invoice Form in Word 2003. It allowed me to go into a contact in Outlook, use the mail merge feature there, and select an existing document (i.e., the generic invoice form) and then generate an invoice pre-filled with the client address information. Then the form automatically filled in a date field, and allowed me to enter some data such as "work performed", "hours", "rate discount", etc. and then it calculated the various sub-totals (e.g., parts and labor) and then computed the final totals. It worked great. I turned on protection to fill in the form and let it calculate the results. Now I have "upgraded" to Word 2007 and I am ready to tear my hair out! Outlook still allows me to merge a contact into my old invoice form, but then the trouble begins. If I protect the form, none of the legacy fields can be filled in. It only recognizes fields added with the new 2007 field formats. Also, before, when I opened up the newly created document after clicking "Okay" in Outlook to perform the merge, the resulting document had already been "merged" and it was ready for me to click "protect" and then enter new data and have it automatically calculate. Now it opens a document that has a button that says "complete merge." If I do so, I lose all aspects of the "form" fields. In essence, BEFORE I had a nice solution that allowed Mail Merge and Forms to work perfectly together. Now, instead of what was once simple elegance to create form fields, when you click on field properties in Word 2007, it opens up a Visual Basic scripting tool!! That is not user-friendly! Although the "legacy" fields still exist, they do not work as they once did, namely the protect feature does not recognize them as legitimate fields to be filled out. And there is no equivalent of the simple-to-use "calculated" field, rather there is a complex scripting language (VBS) to be dealt with. Perhaps I am missing something... even though I have struggled with every combo I can think of to make it work in the new version of Word!! If anyone else has experienced any similar trials with converting their old 2003 functioning forms into Word 2007, I would be most grateful to hear how you made it work! THANKS! PS The title did not show properly in my first post. Sorry about that! |
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#5
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Migrating Forms created in Word 2003 to Word 2007
You can not only leave Word 2003 on your PC when you upgrade, but you can
have them both on screen at the same time - http://www.gmayor.com/Toolbars_in_word_2007.htm. Word 2007 is radically different from Word 2003, and for experienced users there is a steep learning curve. I have both on my PC, but as I am getting more familiar with 2007 (needed to update my web site) I find I am using it more for regular work. This seems to be most people's experience. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Donna wrote: Thank you, Graham, for your quick response. I will research the 3 links in your post. To answer your question access to Word 2003, I do not believe you can upgrade to 2007 and leave 2003 on your PC, so, no, I do not have the old program installed - that is exactly my frustration! Everything worked perfectly in 2003, it is 2007 that does not seem to be backwardly compatible and hence my old forms no longer work as before. Usually, a new release is an upgrade and you shouldn't need to go back to the old version. I have 2003 loaded on other PC's here and I could always reload it on this PC as well but I thought the whole point of a new version was to have a BETTER product. I am so frustrated with the new release. I was a beta tester for several months and started to like some things about the new version and I assumed the bugs would be cured in the final release, but alas.... I will now go check the sites you mention - thanks again! BTW, just curious, do YOU use Word 2007? |
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#6
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Migrating Forms created in Word 2003 to Word 2007
Just reviewed your link - That is a very cool concept - perhaps YOU should
have been on the Word 2007 re-design team - or maybe you were!? Thanks again for your help! - Donna PS I agree that for the most part I like Word 2007 better as I get used to it, but there is a lot I just stumble upon and find out about. Seems like before, each upgrade was more of just adding a new feature here or there ....whereas now it just seems like a completely different product altogether! I also think some of the ribbons take up a lot of screen real estate without really adding much usefulness, and they are much wider than the old completely customizable toolbars were... Next time Microsoft should ask ME about user acceptance before redesigning everything, LOL! I would give them an earful! "Graham Mayor" wrote: You can not only leave Word 2003 on your PC when you upgrade, but you can have them both on screen at the same time - http://www.gmayor.com/Toolbars_in_word_2007.htm. Word 2007 is radically different from Word 2003, and for experienced users there is a steep learning curve. I have both on my PC, but as I am getting more familiar with 2007 (needed to update my web site) I find I am using it more for regular work. This seems to be most people's experience. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Donna wrote: Thank you, Graham, for your quick response. I will research the 3 links in your post. To answer your question access to Word 2003, I do not believe you can upgrade to 2007 and leave 2003 on your PC, so, no, I do not have the old program installed - that is exactly my frustration! Everything worked perfectly in 2003, it is 2007 that does not seem to be backwardly compatible and hence my old forms no longer work as before. Usually, a new release is an upgrade and you shouldn't need to go back to the old version. I have 2003 loaded on other PC's here and I could always reload it on this PC as well but I thought the whole point of a new version was to have a BETTER product. I am so frustrated with the new release. I was a beta tester for several months and started to like some things about the new version and I assumed the bugs would be cured in the final release, but alas.... I will now go check the sites you mention - thanks again! BTW, just curious, do YOU use Word 2007? |
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#7
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Migrating Forms created in Word 2003 to Word 2007
I do not work for Microsoft, I was not involved in the beta testing program
and I installed Office 2007 about a month ago as I found it becoming increasingly necessary to update my web site. You do know that you can autohide the ribbons leaving only the tabs, if screen real estate is an issue? Right click the tab area and select minimize the ribbon. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Donna wrote: Just reviewed your link - That is a very cool concept - perhaps YOU should have been on the Word 2007 re-design team - or maybe you were!? Thanks again for your help! - Donna PS I agree that for the most part I like Word 2007 better as I get used to it, but there is a lot I just stumble upon and find out about. Seems like before, each upgrade was more of just adding a new feature here or there ...whereas now it just seems like a completely different product altogether! I also think some of the ribbons take up a lot of screen real estate without really adding much usefulness, and they are much wider than the old completely customizable toolbars were... Next time Microsoft should ask ME about user acceptance before redesigning everything, LOL! I would give them an earful! "Graham Mayor" wrote: You can not only leave Word 2003 on your PC when you upgrade, but you can have them both on screen at the same time - http://www.gmayor.com/Toolbars_in_word_2007.htm. Word 2007 is radically different from Word 2003, and for experienced users there is a steep learning curve. I have both on my PC, but as I am getting more familiar with 2007 (needed to update my web site) I find I am using it more for regular work. This seems to be most people's experience. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Donna wrote: Thank you, Graham, for your quick response. I will research the 3 links in your post. To answer your question access to Word 2003, I do not believe you can upgrade to 2007 and leave 2003 on your PC, so, no, I do not have the old program installed - that is exactly my frustration! Everything worked perfectly in 2003, it is 2007 that does not seem to be backwardly compatible and hence my old forms no longer work as before. Usually, a new release is an upgrade and you shouldn't need to go back to the old version. I have 2003 loaded on other PC's here and I could always reload it on this PC as well but I thought the whole point of a new version was to have a BETTER product. I am so frustrated with the new release. I was a beta tester for several months and started to like some things about the new version and I assumed the bugs would be cured in the final release, but alas.... I will now go check the sites you mention - thanks again! BTW, just curious, do YOU use Word 2007? |
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#8
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Migrating Forms created in Word 2003 to Word 2007
I did it by accident so I figured it could be done but I had no idea how it
happened! THANKS! That is a huge help - is there another way besides right-click+Minimize... any keyboard shortcut I may have typed? "Graham Mayor" wrote: I do not work for Microsoft, I was not involved in the beta testing program and I installed Office 2007 about a month ago as I found it becoming increasingly necessary to update my web site. You do know that you can autohide the ribbons leaving only the tabs, if screen real estate is an issue? Right click the tab area and select minimize the ribbon. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Donna wrote: Just reviewed your link - That is a very cool concept - perhaps YOU should have been on the Word 2007 re-design team - or maybe you were!? Thanks again for your help! - Donna PS I agree that for the most part I like Word 2007 better as I get used to it, but there is a lot I just stumble upon and find out about. Seems like before, each upgrade was more of just adding a new feature here or there ...whereas now it just seems like a completely different product altogether! I also think some of the ribbons take up a lot of screen real estate without really adding much usefulness, and they are much wider than the old completely customizable toolbars were... Next time Microsoft should ask ME about user acceptance before redesigning everything, LOL! I would give them an earful! "Graham Mayor" wrote: You can not only leave Word 2003 on your PC when you upgrade, but you can have them both on screen at the same time - http://www.gmayor.com/Toolbars_in_word_2007.htm. Word 2007 is radically different from Word 2003, and for experienced users there is a steep learning curve. I have both on my PC, but as I am getting more familiar with 2007 (needed to update my web site) I find I am using it more for regular work. This seems to be most people's experience. -- Graham Mayor - Word MVP My web site www.gmayor.com Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org Donna wrote: Thank you, Graham, for your quick response. I will research the 3 links in your post. To answer your question access to Word 2003, I do not believe you can upgrade to 2007 and leave 2003 on your PC, so, no, I do not have the old program installed - that is exactly my frustration! Everything worked perfectly in 2003, it is 2007 that does not seem to be backwardly compatible and hence my old forms no longer work as before. Usually, a new release is an upgrade and you shouldn't need to go back to the old version. I have 2003 loaded on other PC's here and I could always reload it on this PC as well but I thought the whole point of a new version was to have a BETTER product. I am so frustrated with the new release. I was a beta tester for several months and started to like some things about the new version and I assumed the bugs would be cured in the final release, but alas.... I will now go check the sites you mention - thanks again! BTW, just curious, do YOU use Word 2007? |
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#9
Posted to microsoft.public.word.docmanagement
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Migrating Forms created in Word 2003 to Word 2007
Donna:
I share your frustration and just found an easy, eloquent solution from one of the other MVPs. I tried it and it worked for me. Maybe it'll work for you to. Best regards, Mike --Solution from Jay Freedman, Microsoft Word MVP "You can add the old Lock icon to the Quick Access Toolbar. Click the down arrow at the right end of the toolbar and choose "More Commands". In the dialog, select the category "Commands Not in the Ribbon", select the Protect Document command in the list, and click the Add button to copy it over to the list on the right. You can then click the Modify button and choose the icon -- the lock icon is in the middle of the third row." "Donna" wrote: Well I sort of developed a work-around - there may be an easier way but here it is in case anyone else needs this... I divided the document into 2 docs: Part 1 and Part2. Part 1 is just the mail merge table for name and address fields. Part 2 is the forms part with a placeholder table for the mailmerge data from Part 1. I perform the merge out of Outlook using €śexisting doc€ť Part1 and then in the new document created by that process, I click on "Finish and merge," with the option to "edit individual" results. I then cut and paste the name and address section into Part 2's placeholder table. The form can now be filled in using the Protect document feature without wiping out the N&A fields, since they have become merely text and not active fields any longer. The problem seems to be that you can no longer use mail merge and forms in the SAME document. If you merge, it wipes out the ability to fill in a form or if you can fill in the form it wipes out the mail merge data. Too bad - it used to work fine in Word 2003! (I may have mentioned that a few hundred times, huh! Sorry, just frustrated!) LOL, Donna :-) "Donna" wrote: I had developed an Invoice Form in Word 2003. It allowed me to go into a contact in Outlook, use the mail merge feature there, and select an existing document (i.e., the generic invoice form) and then generate an invoice pre-filled with the client address information. Then the form automatically filled in a date field, and allowed me to enter some data such as "work performed", "hours", "rate discount", etc. and then it calculated the various sub-totals (e.g., parts and labor) and then computed the final totals. It worked great. I turned on protection to fill in the form and let it calculate the results. Now I have "upgraded" to Word 2007 and I am ready to tear my hair out! Outlook still allows me to merge a contact into my old invoice form, but then the trouble begins. If I protect the form, none of the legacy fields can be filled in. It only recognizes fields added with the new 2007 field formats. Also, before, when I opened up the newly created document after clicking "Okay" in Outlook to perform the merge, the resulting document had already been "merged" and it was ready for me to click "protect" and then enter new data and have it automatically calculate. Now it opens a document that has a button that says "complete merge." If I do so, I lose all aspects of the "form" fields. In essence, BEFORE I had a nice solution that allowed Mail Merge and Forms to work perfectly together. Now, instead of what was once simple elegance to create form fields, when you click on field properties in Word 2007, it opens up a Visual Basic scripting tool!! That is not user-friendly! Although the "legacy" fields still exist, they do not work as they once did, namely the protect feature does not recognize them as legitimate fields to be filled out. And there is no equivalent of the simple-to-use "calculated" field, rather there is a complex scripting language (VBS) to be dealt with. Perhaps I am missing something... even though I have struggled with every combo I can think of to make it work in the new version of Word!! If anyone else has experienced any similar trials with converting their old 2003 functioning forms into Word 2007, I would be most grateful to hear how you made it work! THANKS! PS The title did not show properly in my first post. Sorry about that! |
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