Interactive Checkbox/Uncheckbox problem

[Karen Haley]

(Using Word 2000)

I already learned how to create Checked Box and Unchecked Box
AutoText entries, and link them to a macro to make them toggle.

* I copied the Checked Box and Unchecked Box AutoText entries, and
the ContemporaryFax Macro Project Items from the Contemporary Fax
template into my Normal.dot global template.


* Next, I ran Insert > AutoText > Checked Box > Checked Box to insert
a neat little checked box into my document.


* Then I selected the Checked Box and ran the UncheckIt Macro to
associate the macro with the AutoText entry. The macro unchecked the
box.


* Now, when I double-click the Unchecked Box, it is converted to a
Checked Box. Double-clicking the Checked Box converts it to an Unchecked
Box.

Very cool! And it's all stored in my Normal.dot global template. I love
it! However...

Problem:
I created a form with all these nifty check boxes, and uploaded the form
to our web site. Users (hundreds of them) grabbed the form off the web
site and saved it to their own PCs. Now they report that the nifty
little check boxes don't work!

I don't understand -- doesn't the document carry the AutoText Entries
and the Macro along with it? Apparently not... how do I resolve this?
Help!

Thanks,
Karen Haley

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Karen,

By design, AutoText entries can be stored only in templates, not in
documents. Similarly, although macros can be stored in documents, unless you
deliberately save them there, the macros default to being saved in a
template (usually Normal.dot).

For a way around this, look at step 13 of
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Add_Toggle_Objects.htm. Greg shows how to write a
macro that creates the AutoText entries on the user's machine, instead of
having to send along the template containing pre-made entries. As his note
indicates, the user will have to explicitly enable macros to run from the
document, because Word assumes that macros in documents are a security risk.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
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