About fields in forms

[DeeDeeCee]

So, I'm gleefully creating a form. But I've noticed that not all the text
fields look alike. Some have a bracket on either side of the form, visible
when the field is "shaded", and when it's not. When the "shaded" button is
turned off, the brackets remain and you can tell there is a field there.

Others have no brackets, and when you turn off the "shaded" button, they
disappear completely and there's nothing that indicates there is a field
there (though it is still there and working).

Why the difference? What consequences for my form? How do I turn the bracked
on and off, if it turns out I need it (or don't need it)?

Everything seems to work the same in either case, but usually differences
have a purpose and I don't have to go back later and change the fields after
doing all the work of putting them in. Thanks in advance.

ddc

 

[Lene Fredborg]

The brackets indicate a bookmark. You can see the brackets because you have
Tools > Options > View tab > Bookmarks turned on.

When you insert a new form field from the Forms toolbar, a bookmark is
automatically added around the field. If you look at the properties of a new
form field (any type), you will see the bookmark name. You can see all the
bookmarks via Insert > Bookmark.

If, however, you copy a form field and paste it somewhere else, the pasted
form field will have no bookmark (and therefore no brackets). If you check in
the properties dialog box, you will see that the Bookmark field is empty.

Text form fields are named "Text1", "Text2", etc. in the order they are
created.
Check boxes form fields are named "Check1", "Check2", etc.
Drop-down form fields are named "Dropdown1", "Dropdown2", etc.

The form works without bookmarks but if you want to apply some additional
functionality, you may need to be able to refer to the bookmarks in order to
obtain what you want.

The following article contains a macro that will insert the missing
bookmarks and rename all the bookmarks appropriately:
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Rename_Formfields_Globally.htm

--
Regards
Lene Fredborg
DocTools - Denmark
www.thedoctools.com
Document automation - add-ins, macros and templates for Microsoft Word

 

[Jay Freedman]

When you create a form field by clicking one of the buttons on the
Forms toolbar, it has an associated bookmark that serves as its name.
The name of the bookmark appears in the field's Properties dialog. The
bookmark is visible as the gray brackets only if the Bookmarks box is
checked in Tools > Options > View.

If you copy/paste or Ctrl+drag an existing field, the new field gets
the bookmark. Because bookmark names must be unique per document, the
old field loses its bookmark, and is effectively "unnamed".

The only reason form fields need bookmarks and their names is if
you're using macros to manipulate the form -- for example, to repeat
the user's entries elsewhere in the document, or to save the entries
in a database. Otherwise, the form will operate normally with a mix of
named and unnamed fields.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
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[DeeDeeCee]

Thank you both for the excellent, helpful explanations.