Borders, tables and bullets when designing templates!

[Guest]

I am trying to design a template for work use that involves setting out
'empty' boxes in sections to be filled in. I know this shouldn't be hard,
but I am expereincing several problems!

At first I used paragraoh borders to create the blank sections. however,
colleagues are not able to put bullet points or tables into these sections
without creating more lines and messing up the document.

The I tried using t ables (ie 1 row/one column to make a box). This does
not allow tabbing without using ctrl.

I then tried using text boxes. This allows tables to be inserted and bullet
points used, but the formatting does not stay - boxes overrun titles of next
sections, or don't expand to accommodate text within.

Does anyone know of a way that I can create a document that contains blank
text boxes, each with a title outwith the box, that will retain the box
formatting when text, bullet points and tables are inserted (of varying
length), and that will allow normal tabbing within the box?

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi JillyW

See the following article and the links from it to Dian Chapman's articles
about creating forms:
How to create a template that makes it easy for users to "fill in the
blanks", without doing any programming
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/FillinTheBlanks.htm

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Have you tried frames? Use the Insert Frame button on the Forms toolbar,
then double-click the hashed border of the frame and set the wrapping to
None. This will allow you to place the box in the text stream. You can use
tabs and paragraph formatting inside the frame, and you can set an exact
size for the frame or allow it to grow as needed. You can insert a table
inside the frame. By default, a frame was a narrow line border, which you
can remove or change; note, however, that the border isn't really on the
frame (as a border is on a text box) but on the paragraphs in the frame, so
if you apply bullets or numbering using the toolbar buttons, the frame
border is indented along with the paragraphs (this can be solved by using
the ruler to move the indent markers back to the margin), and if you insert
a table, it will be outside the border unless you apply a border to it as
well. The major downsides is that a frame is part of paragraph formatting,
so you can't apply different paragraph styles that don't include the frame.

If all users are using a recent version of Word (at least Word 2002 or maybe
Word 2000), you can insert a text box In Line With Text; this would get
around the border problems, but the main problem with both frames and text
boxes is that they can't exceed one page (even when inline).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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