Fields to type, inside a protected table

[Valente]

Hello!

I work in an education institution and I use Word 2004 student/education
edition. Today I received a .doc file to type my data on it. Its basically a
table with fields to type. The table structure is protected and the fields
are open to type. That .doc file was made in a modern version of word for
windows. When I open the document it tells me it have a macro, and accepting
it or not I got the same, that is, I can't type in the fields, it says the
document is protected. I tested all I know to unlock the document with no
success; file asks for the password and the service who made the file don't
want to give the password. I went to the service to speak with guy that made
the file and told him to show me how the thing works in his PC/Win and I saw
how he could type in the fields; he was typing fields in a protected frame
(table) something I never saw before on word for Mac; just saw that once or
twice in Adobe Acrobat documents.

There is any way for me to use that file? I didn't even knew that Word can
do fixed frames with open type fields. Word Mac can do it too? Someone can
update me on modern word features. I use it daily since 1992...

Thanks in advance for any help, and sorry for this basic English; Portugal
here.

Greetings.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

You can use Word 2004 to create "online forms" using the "Forms" toolbar
(see Tools|Customize|Customize Toolbars/Menus...). You can create these
forms without using any macros, but VBA macros can be used to run code when
the user enters or exits a specified form field.

In theory, these forms should run on both Mac and Word versions of Word, but
there may be problems if any VBA code is not cross-platform. I don't use
forms much, but I just created a simple one in Windows Word 2003 and opened
it on Mac Word 2004 with no problems, complete with a macro.

In the Windows version of Word it is also possible to create a completely
different type of form that uses Windows OLE controls instead of Word's
built-in "Online forms" controls. When you open such a form on Mac Word, it
simply doesn't work, because the necessary infrastructure does not exist on
Mac: a Text Control is treated like an image. You can't type in it.

If I create such a form on Windows Word, and "protect the document for
forms", I can use the form on Windows Word but when I open it on Mac I
cannot type anywhere outside the controls (because the document is
protected). I cannot type in the controls (because they are just graphics).
That sounds very like what you are seeing, but perhaps you are actually
experiencing a different problem.

The summary is that if you need the form to run on your machine, it cannot
use Windows OLE controls. it has to be a Word "Online Form".

Peter Jamieson



You can set form field properties to run VBA macros as the user enters or
exits each field, These should in theory behave in much the same way on both
the Windows and Mac platforms, as long as any VBA code . Macros are optional
in th