Help - creating forms and formulas in Word

[Luke Richardson]

I hope I have come to the right places! I would be grateful for guidance and
instruction with the following tasks.

I need to be able to create Excel-style tables that apply formulas and logic
to figures entered by the users of the document I'm creating. For example,
they would enter a number for the duplicate records in a database and Word
would multiply this by a figure I have already entered for the cost of each
mailing. So, in one sense the form needs to be locked but in another, the
user needs to be free to enter some data. I need to apply these same
principles in different contexts throughout this document.

I also need to be able to automatically generate a chart of whichever type
is appropriate from my table.

At the same time, I also want to use simple mail merge functions. I would
like my document users to be able to easily import their company logo, the
name of the person they're sending the document to and their own details.

My objective is to create a highly and quickly useable document into which
my business partners can very quickly add very specific information and
generate ROI figures. All using Word.

Can this be done? I would be very grateful for advice on where to look for
hints and tips, some simple instructions on how to perform these tasks (I
have found the MVP site a little daunting) and any other advice on what
would constitute a better, easily available CTP tool for this sort of
dicument.

Please contact me directly on my email address (above) if appropriate.

Sincerest thanks in advance,
Luke Richardson

 

[macropod]

Hi Luke,

If you set your document up as a form with formfields for data entry, you
can certainly do a fair amount of manipulation with formula fields. See the
tutorial document at:
http://www.wopr.com/cgi-bin/w3t/showthreaded.pl?Number=365442
for more information on Word's field math abilities and limitations. If you
need to do math involving dates and/or times, have a look at:
http://www.wopr.com/cgi-bin/w3t/showthreaded.pl?Number=249902
also.

Setting the document up with protected sections (required for the formfields
to run) and unprotected sections (so that users can add their own material
would allow considerable flexibility.

None of the above requires the use of macros (vba). You may find, however,
that using macros (which can achieve everything that you can do with fields
and more) will better suit your needs.

Cheers

 

[Cindy Meister]

Hi Luke

This could probably be done with Word, but not easily. Certainly there are
no "simple instructions" for how to achieve it It would require some VBA
programming...

If I were you, I'd take a look at the Microsoft product InfoPath. From the
sound of it, this may be exactly what you're looking for, or very, very close


-- Cindy