It is simple. Insert => Field. The tutorial shows the different ways to
approach what you are trying to do.
Here's the ...
General Info on moving from Word Perfect to Word:
Word and Word Perfect work very differently from one another. Each program's
methods have strengths and weaknesses; but, if you try to use one of these
programs as if it were the other, it is like pushing on a string! You can
easily make a lot of extra work for yourself. If you are unwilling to take
the time to learn to use Word's methods, you should stick to using Word Pad.
You'll have a lot less grief, although you'll miss out on a lot of raw
power.
See
http://www.addbalance.com/word/wordperfect.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WordVsWordPerfect.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/TipsAndGotchas.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RevealCodes.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WordPerfectConverters.htm
http://businesssoft.about.com/compute/businesssoft/library/blconvert.htm
for information on Word for Word Perfect users.
For more:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart2.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart1.htm
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Numbering/WordsNumberingExplained.htm
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/WhatTemplatesStore.htm
In Word 2000 (or later) You can get the function keys to display in a
special toolbar at the bottom of the screen if you want (something like
pressing F3 twice in WP). The following macro will do this.
Sub ShowMeFunctionKeys()
Commandbars("Function Key Display").Visible = True
End Sub
Word's Extend key (F8) gives something similar to block processing.
Learn about Styles - really learn!
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/styles.htm I resisted for years and now
regret every day of those years because although that string was still very
hard to push, it kept getting longer and longer, and had some very important
projects tied to it! Once you understand styles and the Word concept of
organizing things into Chinese boxes everything falls into place and instead
of pushing a string, you can push a button that turns on the very powerful
text processing machine known as Microsoft Word and it will start doing your
work for you instead of running around behind you trying to undo what you
just thought you did.
Finally, in WP a lot of people use macros to hold chunks of text -
boilerplate. In Word this function is filled by Templates, AutoText and
AutoCorrect, not macros. Follow the links at
http://addbalance.com/word/wordwebresources.htm#AutoText for more
information on these tools.
It's a lot of reading, I know. It's OK to chunk it down and do a bit each
day, but I would recommend that you make it a top priority to do that bit
each day.
You can use FILLIN and ASK fields or UserForms to query the user. For some
form documents, Word's "online forms" work very well. For more about online
forms, follow the links at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/FillinTheBlanks.htm especially Dian
Chapman's series of articles.
As for converting documents from Word Perfect to use in Word... In a word,
don't plan on it. I would not recommend using converted documents long-term.
They will be filled with formatting anomolies that will get you at the worst
time. This is especially true of any documents containing automatic
numbering or bullets. Try recreating form documents in Word using the
following process:
In Word Perfect (if you still have it, in Word if not) save your files as
text files.
Use your converted files as references to show you how you want your
formatting to look.
Create a new document in Word and insert the text from the text file. Save
this new document as a Word template. Format it the way you want using
styles, not direct formatting. Save it again.
To use a template within Word, use File => New and pick your template. This
will create a new document for you.
General practice in WP is to have a document and copy and edit it to create
a new document. This is not good practice in Word. In Word, construct a
good, tight, template for your documents and use that template when
constructing new documents. Among other things, this can avoid embarrassing
"metadata"
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/metadata.htm and things like
surprise headers and footers from creeping into new documents.
Bomber said:
Thanks Charles.
You are correct
We have a heap of templates that were done in WP.
The users are novices at using Word and I want to make this process as
painless as possible. So I'm after a solution that works and is simple to
use. I looked at your Tutorial and found that it wasn't as straight forward
as I would like ( I gave it to a user to look at and they had no idea where
to even start).
Am I missing something here, or isn't there just a very straight forward way
of doing this ? No macros, No vba, no userforms.
cheers.
Charles Kenyon said:
A Fill-In field in the template will do what you want. See the Ask and
Fill-In field tutorial at
http://addbalance.com/word/download.htm. Also,
though, look into macrobutton fields as click-and-type prompts. See
http://addbalance.com/usersguide/fields.htm#Macrobutton.
{ MacroButton NoMacro [Click here and type] }
I have a suspicion that you are migrating from Word Perfect or some other
word processing program. If that is the situation, write back and I'll give
you a bunch of links that will help, because these two programs do not
approach things the same way.
Hi Charles,
am I missing something here or is it more difficult than it seems.
Say for example, these are the only 2 fields I want inputted [Person's
Name]
and [insert subject here] (as below).
Dear [Person's Name]
re: [insert subject here]
I then want to have the document created with the data fields filled
in
so
that I can (1) print the document and (2) save the document to
file -
with
the text already merged.
Is there a way to do this without any vba. We have 100's and 100's of
documents that need this doing to and to use userforms etc is overkill.
There will be a few people doing it with relatively basic word skills.
The old Wordperfect prompts were perfect for this and very easy to do.
thanks.
message Don't know that it is that much simpler and do know that it is
much
less
powerful or flexible, but ASK and/or Fill-In fields come to mind. See
the
tutorial at
http://addbalance.com/word/download.htm
Hi all,
I am looking for a way to easily set up a document to allow a
user
to
enter
data, via a form that pops up.
I want to make it very simple to setup and not use UserForms/VBA etc.
Is there a recommended way of doing this, keeping it very simple ?
cheers,
Adam
