Document protection for form in text boxes doesn't permit form fil

[Fraser Page]

I have created a form using content controls. The form is contained entirely
in text boxes. I would like to turn on document protection so that only
filling in forms is permitted. However, when I do so I am not able to make
any changes at all.

 

[Jay Freedman]

I have created a form using content controls. The form is contained
entirely in text boxes. I would like to turn on document protection
so that only filling in forms is permitted. However, when I do so I
am not able to make any changes at all.

That's because (Word 2007) content controls and (legacy) form field
protection aren't intended to work together.

Instead of turning on form field protection, select the entire document and
then click the Group button in the Controls group on the Developer tab, and
choose Group in the menu. That's the content control equivalent of form
field protection -- nothing outside the content controls will be editable.
The one thing that's missing is that you can't lock the grouping with a
password, as you could with form field protection.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Fraser Page]

Thanks so much Jay,

You know, I'm a really big fan of Word 2007 -- it's heads and shoulders
above earlier versions. But every once and a while you come across a feature
that leaves you scratching your head.

There's nothing about the document protection menu to indicate that it only
works for legacy forms. How in the world do they expect you to figure that
out yourself?

And group really doesn't seem like the right name. It does an entirely
different thing than the other command named group! One name for two things!
(e.g. select multiple text boxes > right click > group)

Mind you, it does a nice job protecting my text from unwanted changes. Now
if only there was a way to stop people from moving or deleting all my text
boxes!

Thanks!

 

[Jay Freedman]

You're welcome!

I agree that MS has done a miserable job of documenting bits like this. I didn't
find out what the content controls Group command was for until nearly a year
after I first saw it, when one of the development team demonstrated it. Before
that, I'd seen another MS demonstration that involved surrounding the entire
document with a rich text content control and turning on its "contents cannot be
edited" option; the content controls embedded within it will continue to accept
editing. That works, but Group is easier. And yes, the name is misleading.

To protect any content control from being deleted, select the control, click the
Properties button in the Controls group, and check the "Content control cannot
be deleted" option. You'll also find that once the document is grouped, content
controls can't be dragged away from their original positions.