Creating interactive forms

[cfournier]

Help, please. I am using Microsoft Word 2004 on a Mac Mini. I need to
create a fairly simple form for users to fill out, with "clickable"
instruction areas ie: "Click here to type your first name," that will
be replaced with the user-entered information but the instructions from
Microsoft Support about how to create an automated form with FILLIN
Fields in Word 2002 don't (perhaps obviously) work. From some of the
other questions posted, I suspect that someone here knows how to do
this.Do I have to do it as a template? ( The program won't let me save
from template to document) I really hope someone out there can help
with this. Thanks!

 

[diane]

Hi!

Assuming I understand your question...

Go to View > Toolsbars > Forms so that the forms toolbar is visible.

Position your curser where you want the user to fill in something.

On the Forms toolbar, click on the icon that looks like this: ab|

That will insert a form field where you positioned your curser.

If a gray field doesn't appear where you positioned your curser, then
click on the icon on the Forms toolbar that is next to the lock icon,
this will cause your form fields to be visible (it'll be gray).

Next, double click on the gray form field that you created, which will
open a dialog box where you'll have the opportunity to enter default
text. This default text will appear until the user fills in the form
field with their info.

To allow the user to tab from fill-in field to fill-in field be sure to
click on the lock icon on the Forms toobar to lock the document.
Important to note, this does not protect the form from unauthorized
changes because the user can click on the same lock icon to unlock the
form. If you want to password protect the form you'll need to use
Tools > Protect Document.

I hope this info helps!

Have a terrific day!
Diane

 

[CyberTaz]

Hello-

To expand a little on what Diane replied;

Fill In fields work fine, but perhaps not how you expect. They (each)
generate a dialog box that prompts the user for information when
creating a new document and insert the content to the appropriate
location in the document.

The Form Fields Diane pointed you to work differently, more akin to
what you want, but there are also other field types that function in a
similar fashion.

You don't have to save the document (.doc) as a template (.dot), but if
you don't the user is modifying your original doc every time they want
to create a new one, and you are relying strictly on them to remember
to "Save As" each time. This is a recipe for disaster.

If you save a template in the right location and have the users create
new docs 'based on' it, incidental modifications to the template will
not happen. Each time a new file is created it will be a new doc based
on the dot and saved as a regular document file. I believe you are
running into the "can't save...' problem because you are opening the
dot, itself, rather than creating new documents based on it.

You might want to review MS Word Help on the matter of templates, and
I'm sure one of the MVPs can point you to other instructional material
which may be clearer on the issue of creating & using templates.

HTH |:>)

 

[cfournier]

Thanks, also, for this advice! MS Word Help wasn't all that "helpful" -
some really ambigious phrasing - but I did eventually figure out how
to open a template as a .doc.
I'll now have to consider whether it's too much to expect of the
end-user...C

 

[CyberTaz]

Glad you're on the right track!

Re > I'll now have to consider whether it's too much to expect of the

end-user

You might want to record a simple macro that creates a new file from the
template and add that to a menu or as a button on a toolbar. The user need
do nothing more than select it by name from the menu or click the button.

Good Luck |:>)