Blank return for drop-down form fields

[Guest]

I have a word form containing text and drop-down form fields. On completion,
if the form is printed, all the selected options in the drop-down form fields
are visible; if the same form is then sent to an email recipient from within
Word, the selected drop-down form options do not show in the received email.

Is there a solution to this?

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?UGV0ZXIgQi4=?=,

I have a word form containing text and drop-down form fields. On completion,
if the form is printed, all the selected options in the drop-down form fields
are visible; if the same form is then sent to an email recipient from within
Word, the selected drop-down form options do not show in the received email.

You MUST send a Word form as an attachment. The HTML used for the Email format
does not recognize Word's form fields properly.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

There's no satisfactory solution.

* You could use a different system for enabling the user to indicate
choices. The checkboxes will not convert to HTML.

* You could instruct all users to set Outlook to mail as RTF

* You could embed a macro in the document that intercepts the SEND command
and translates it into a "Send as Attachment" command.

The first option means re-working your form.

The second option relies on user compliance, which will not be total.

The third option will cause alerts from the user's antivirus program and may
cause the form to be blocked by Outlook.

I am afraid user education is the only reliable fix to this: each time they
send you one that's bad, send them the instructions for doing it right...

Cheers

I am dealing with this issue too. So, my question is:

I am sending a protected form as an attachment for completion. My problem
is that if the recipient fills out the form and then hits the "Send to Mail
Recipient" option, I get the form back with the text fields complete, but the
check boxes empty. Is there a solution, or maybe a way to disable the "Send
to Mail Recipient" option, but leave the "Send as Attachment" option
available?

Thanks!

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[Guest]

Thanks John! At least I know I wasn't missing anything. Since instructing
the users to do anything was not an option, I decided to change the
checkboxes to text fields, limiting it to one character, with autocaps. That
also solved my other concern that you touched on re: macro security.

Thanks so much for your help!

There's no satisfactory solution.

* You could use a different system for enabling the user to indicate
choices. The checkboxes will not convert to HTML.

* You could instruct all users to set Outlook to mail as RTF

* You could embed a macro in the document that intercepts the SEND command
and translates it into a "Send as Attachment" command.

The first option means re-working your form.

The second option relies on user compliance, which will not be total.

The third option will cause alerts from the user's antivirus program and may
cause the form to be blocked by Outlook.

I am afraid user education is the only reliable fix to this: each time they
send you one that's bad, send them the instructions for doing it right...

Cheers

I am dealing with this issue too. So, my question is:

I am sending a protected form as an attachment for completion. My problem
is that if the recipient fills out the form and then hits the "Send to Mail
Recipient" option, I get the form back with the text fields complete, but the
check boxes empty. Is there a solution, or maybe a way to disable the "Send
to Mail Recipient" option, but leave the "Send as Attachment" option
available?

Thanks!

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410