Emailing a Protected Form

[BCBC]

I created a form that has the following characteristics:

1. Multiple tables on one page.
2. AutoShapes in front of the tables (with no fill - to create borders that
line up nicely).
3. Password protection.

Some of my users want to be able to send the document to people via email
(we use Outlook) by using the File>Send To>Mail Recipient functionality (they
do not want to send it as an attachment). When they do this, the page looks
fine before they send it, but when it gets to the recipient the tables and
AutoShapes shift and the whole page is jumbled. Everything is also jumbled
when the sender looks at the message in her sent items. We have tried this on
3 different computers and always get the same results.

Is there a setting in Word or Outlook that I can change to fix this?

 

[Jezebel]

The short answer is that Word is a terrible choice for this. Microsoft's own
solution is InfoPath; and there are any number of other apps out there (like
Acrobat) that can do emailable forms.

If you insist on doing it with Word, don't try to be clever with the
formatting. Forget your AutoShapes.

 

[Robert M. Franz (RMF)]

Hi BCBC

1. Multiple tables on one page.
2. AutoShapes in front of the tables (with no fill - to create borders that
line up nicely).
3. Password protection.

Usually, you're better off by creating a fixed table setup, so that all
content is packed into table cells, and where you need borders, they are
cell borders.

Some of my users want to be able to send the document to people via email
(we use Outlook) by using the File>Send To>Mail Recipient functionality (they
do not want to send it as an attachment). [..]

Before getting any further here: "send the document to people" -- does
that mean internally within your organization, or outside? Because, if
it's outside, that means you have no control of the settings of your
recipients' email tool (you have no idea what kind of application they
are using in the first place). They might read their emails in text-only
mode, FWIW. IOW, you will have a lot more problems to solve first ...

0.2¢
Robert

 

[BCBC]

Thanks to both of you for the replies.

Hi BCBC

1. Multiple tables on one page.
2. AutoShapes in front of the tables (with no fill - to create borders that
line up nicely).
3. Password protection.

Usually, you're better off by creating a fixed table setup, so that all
content is packed into table cells, and where you need borders, they are
cell borders.

Some of my users want to be able to send the document to people via email
(we use Outlook) by using the File>Send To>Mail Recipient functionality (they
do not want to send it as an attachment). [..]

Before getting any further here: "send the document to people" -- does
that mean internally within your organization, or outside? Because, if
it's outside, that means you have no control of the settings of your
recipients' email tool (you have no idea what kind of application they
are using in the first place). They might read their emails in text-only
mode, FWIW. IOW, you will have a lot more problems to solve first ...

0.2¢
Robert
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