Text in a table to wrap to next line

[bondg]

I'm trying to set up a form in Word, using tables. When the user fills in
the first blank on the form, the text might be two words, or it might be 20
words. I want to be able to set this up so that when the user reaches the
end of the line (and cell), the user's input wraps to the next row.

like so...

This is the name of some company: ___________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________

The form will sometimes be printed and filled out, and other times it will
be filled out onscreen. For this reason, we want the underlines to show.

How to I tell Word, "when the user types in all the characters that will fit
on the first line, wrap to the next and keep on going?

TIA

GB

 

[Stefan Blom]

Select the entire table. On the Table menu, click Table Properties.
Click the Cell tab. Click the Options button. Make sure "Wrap text" is
checked, and click OK.

 

[Stefan Blom]

You may also need to specify fixed column widths to get more control
over your table. In the Table properties dialog box, you can set a
"Preferred width" on the Column tab. Also, you may want to click the
Options button on the Table tab and clear the check mark next to
"Automatically resize to fit contents".

 

[bondg]

Thanks much, Stefan for your reply. However, I'm still stuck. I'm sorry I
wasn't more clear. The setting you describe (Wrap Text) is already set, but
that refers to wrapping text within any given cell. I'm looking to "wrap"
from one cell to the next (maybe "flow text from one cell to the next" would
be more correct).

In my example sketch below, the leading text is in a cell with no borders
showing, then the following line is the bottom border of the next cell, and
finally, the last two lines are the bottom borders of full-table-width
cells. I'm hoping to be able to construct this table so that when users
fill out the form and enter text to fill that first cell, MSWord then moves
the insertion point to the next row/cell.

This is the name of some company: ___________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________

Perhaps a macro would work here? Something that would, after X number of
characters is entered, move the insertion point on to the next cell?

Any help is much appreciated.

GB

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

This is not the way tables are designed to behave. For forms to be filled
out online, it is is rather pointless to have lines for users to type on;
lines like this are intended primarily for forms to be filled out by hand
(they actually cause more trouble than they're worth when you try to fill
out a form with a typewriter). If you insist on having the lines, however,
the only practical way to do this is to make one table cell of the desired
depth and create drawing lines at the desired intervals (same spacing as the
paragraph line spacing). Anchor them all to the table paragraph or form
field. For more, see http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/LinesInForms.htm

 

[bondg]

Thanks, I suppose, for your contribution. However, it's not up to you to
determine what's pointless and what's not in my organization. As I said in
my first post, this form will sometimes be filled out by hand and sometimes
online. This makes the lines useful.

GB

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I don't believe I said it was pointless for your organization; I said it was
pointless for forms to be filled out online. The problem with such
dual-purpose forms is that they're trying to do do entirely different jobs
at the same time; it is very little more work (and much more satisfactory)
to create parallel forms, one to be filled out by hand, one to be filled out
online.