locking and unlocking a form

[Alexandra]

I have several forms that I created in Word 2003. I now have 2007. I have
several fields in these forms that in 2003 I would lock and then just tab
around the form filling in the variable information. I cannot figure out how
to do this in 2007. Any suggestions/help would be appreciated.

 

[Jay Freedman]

I have several forms that I created in Word 2003. I now have 2007. I
have several fields in these forms that in 2003 I would lock and then
just tab around the form filling in the variable information. I
cannot figure out how to do this in 2007. Any suggestions/help would
be appreciated.

On the Review tab of the ribbon, click the Protect Document button and
choose Restrict Formatting and Editing to display the task pane. Check the
box for "Allow only this type of editing in the document" and set the
dropdown below that to "Filling in forms". Then click the "Yes, start
enforcing protection" button. In the dialog box that pops up, you can leave
the password boxes blank and click OK.

For a slightly less cumbersome alternative, right-click the Quick Access
Toolbar and choose Customize. Set the category to All Commands. Locate the
Protect Document command -- the first of the three, which has no icon on the
right and which has the tooltip "Protect Document
(ProtectOrUnprotectDocument)" -- and add it to the Quick Access Toolbar.
Unfortunately it has no icon of its own, so it gets the anonymous green
circle.

For my favorite solution, add this macro to Normal.dotm (see
http://www.gmayor.com/installing_macro.htm if needed):

Sub FormProtectDocument()
With ActiveDocument
If .ProtectionType = wdNoProtection Then
.Protect Type:=wdAllowOnlyFormFields
Else
.Unprotect
End If
End With
End Sub

Add a button to the Quick Access Toolbar for this macro. The button will
behave the same as the lock icon on the Forms toolbar of previous versions.
As a bonus, the Customize dialog will let you choose an icon for this button
(only buttons for macros enable the Modify button there), and you can choose
the lock icon.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Beth Mc]

I followed Jay's steps to "Check the box for "Allow only this type of editing
in the document" and set the dropdown below that to "Filling in forms". Then
click the "Yes, start enforcing protection" button." However, the "start
enforcing protection" is greyed out and won't let me re-protect the form. How
would I fix this? Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Beth Mc]

I followed Jay's steps to "Check the box for "Allow only this type of editing
in the document" and set the dropdown below that to "Filling in forms". Then
click the "Yes, start
enforcing protection" button." However, the "start enforcing protection" is
greyed out and won't let me re-protect the form. How would I fix this? Anyone
have any ideas?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Does your form contain ActiveX controls as well as form fields?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org