Creating Tabbable (is that a word?) Forms in Word 2007

[whitlecj]

I work for a company of about 75 employees. We are currently trying to
create some forms for use in inspections by our employees. I have the forms
created but when I try to complete one of the forms, you cannot tab through
the forms. The form that I have created has a lot of text fields for
descriptions of what they are finding during the inspections so this may be
causing the problem. Our whole goal in creating these forms is to speed up
the process of our employees completing these inspection reports, so tabbing
through the fields is a must. I have read that in some of the older versions
of word, you can get the fields so that they can be tabbed, but then you lose
the ability to spell check the document. Is 2007 still like this? Any help
you can provide would be appreciated.

 

[garfield-n-odie [MVP]]

Once the Word document is protected for forms, you can tab from one
field to the next. You can spellcheck protected Word documents using
the macro at
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/MacrosVBA/SpellcheckProtectDoc.htm .

 

[whitlecj]

I have protected the document and I cannot tab through the fields. This is
in office 2007 if that matters. I found a post further down where someone
responded that you could not tab the fields but that you had to use the arrow
keys. The arrow keys do work but I would still like to be able to tab.
Thanks for the quick reply

 

[Beth Melton]

You should be able to tab through the fields in Word 2007. Which controls
did you use for the form? The new Content Controls (in the Controls group on
the Developer tab) or those found under the Legacy Tools (also Controls
group under the Legacy Tools drop down)?

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
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[whitlecj]

I used the new controls, not the legacy. I mainly used text fields.

 

[JR Hester]

I could not get the tab key to advance from field to field in Word07 forms,
either. Using Word07 on WinXP

 

[Beth Melton]

If you want to be able to tab from field to field then you need to use the
Legacy controls. Content Controls do not incorporate the same tabbing
functionality.

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
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Beth Melton]

If you are using the legacy controls (Word form fields) then did you protect
the document? Document protection is required if you want to take advantage
of the tab functionality.

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
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[whitlecj]

I am also needing to make sure the users who are not using Word 2007 can
utilize the forms. I am assuming using Legacy controls gives you the best
opportunity to do this. Is this correct? Also, is there any special way I
need to save the template to allow users of previous versions of Word to
utilize them?

 

[Beth Melton]

If you need to create a template that can be used in Word 2007 and previous
versions then, yes, you must use the Legacy controls. Content Controls will
be converted to static text. In order to share the template it needs to be
saved in the 97-2003 file format.

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
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/