Cannot fill in Form Control in protected document when Layout chan

[JohnnyRaven]

I am designing a form template and came across a problem. I am using Word
2007, I design a new template (blank) and add in a form control.
IE From the 'Developer' menu, select 'Design Mode' then select 'Legacy
Tools' and insert the 'ActiveX Control' 'textbox'.
For testing my problem, I have added two of these.
If you right click on one of these activex textboxes and select 'Form
Control', then select the 'Layout' tab and select anything but 'In line with
text', let's say 'square' for the sake of this discussion. Next, I protected
the document for 'Filling in forms' IE From the 'Developer' menu, selected
'Protect Document' then in 'Editing Restrictions' tick 'allow only this type
of editing in the document:' and select 'Filling in forms'. Unselect the
design mode and then hit the 'Yes, Start Enforcing Protection'.
Ok, I then saved the template and then open it as a new document. Everytime
I attempt to click on the form control that has had it's 'Layout' changed
from 'In line with text' the focus disappears to the other textbox. This is
the same whether you click in it or try and tab to it.

I did notice that if I click on it and hold the left mouse button down, I
can actually type one character into the box before the focus disappears
again. Not much use...but interesting all the same.

What do you reckon?

 

[Beth Melton]

The ActiveX controls are intended to be used with VBA and not with protected
documents. If they are used for protected documents then I'd say they need
to be formatted as "Inline with Text" since any other option places it in
the drawing layer. The "Filling in Forms" protection option was designed to
work for Word Form Fields (Legacy Forms) which are placed in the text layer
and I suspect that's the reason you are encountering the behavior. It's
along the same lines of using a hammer for a job when what you really need
is a wrench. I kind of works but not as exactly as expected. ;-)

Additionally, it's not advised to use the ActiveX controls for designing
forms in Word if you plan to distribute it to others due to Macro Security.
If the recipient's Macro Security isn't set correctly then they may not be
able to utilize the form.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email cannot be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Coauthor of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9801.aspx#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
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