Autotext drop-down list

[andy62]

I need to create a document with drop-down lists but not use a form. I
thought I could create an "autotext" field but I am having trouble following
the Word Help or any of the tips here. I want the default field label to be
"List of Ratings" and then give the user a choice of five different
performance ratings to select from. Can anyone give me instructions or a
link to a site where someone has already documented it? TIA

 

[Lene Fredborg]

The required steps are described in this article:
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/AutoTextList.htm

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

 

[andy62]

Thanks, Lene, there was no way I could have gotten that working with the
documentation inside Word.

One thing, though: how do I "reset" the field back to its label after having
used it to select text from the list? I might have done something wrong as
the field label (the part in the code before the \s) keeps disappearing. I
am going to try deleting everything and starting over, but I can work with it
either way.

Thanks again.

 

[Lene Fredborg]

(This post may appear twice due to problems when posting).

I don’t think you have done anything wrong. The AutoTextField acts a bit
differently from most fields. Once you have created and updated the field,
the text displayed in the document disappears from the field code but remains
in the document. I cannot tell why it works this way.

Some additional details:

If you followed the instructions in the article, you typed the following
field code:

{ AutoTextList "product" \s "ProductStyle" \t "Right-click to select a
product" }

and the field displayed the result "product" in the document.

But if you then display the field code again (Alt+F9), you will see this code:

{ AutoTextList \s "ProductStyle" \t "Right-click to select a product" }

where "product" has disappeared – now the value "product" will only be
visible when you toogle off the field codes (by pressing Alt+F9 again).

To revert to your default field value (in this example "product"), you have
different options (A, B, C and D below):

A. You can toggle field codes, retype the default text (in this case
"product") in the field code so that the field code again looks exactly as
when you started, toggle field codes and press F9 to update the field.

B. You can correct the field value by clicking in the field and typing the
default (in this example "product") directly in the document, i.e. not in the
field code. As it is also stated in the article, it is helpful to have field
shading set to Always – otherwise it is difficult to se whether you are
editing inside or outside a field.

C. Simply delete the old field and insert a fresh one.

D. You could also add the default value as an AutoText entry exactly as you
added the other values – using the special ProductStyle. However, in this
example, the AutoText that holds the AutoTextList field was named "product" –
and you cannot have two AutoTexts with the same name. You could name the
AutoText holding the default value "product default". That name would then
appear in the product list together with the "real" product names and you
could at any time revert to the default simply be selecting it from the
right-click menu.


Hope this helps.

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