drop-down form field appearance

[Guest]

I've created several drop-down form fields in a Word template. What I can't
do is protect the template and have the form fields appear as drop-down boxes
until I click on one.
When I open the protected template as a new document, all I see are the
shaded fields until I select one.
Am I missing something? I don't see anything to make the field appear as a
box with the arrow.
Is this possible? Do I have to do something else? Does Microsoft hate me?
Thanks.
Joel

 

[Jay Freedman]

I've created several drop-down form fields in a Word template. What I
can't do is protect the template and have the form fields appear as
drop-down boxes until I click on one.
When I open the protected template as a new document, all I see are
the shaded fields until I select one.
Am I missing something? I don't see anything to make the field appear
as a box with the arrow.
Is this possible? Do I have to do something else? Does Microsoft hate
me? Thanks.
Joel

No, you're no missing anything, or at least not much. And Microsoft doesn't
hate you more than it hates anyone else; they're just trying to satisfy 30
million people who have at least 50 million different ideas of the way
things should work.

A dropdown field shows the arrow only when the field is selected. You can
select it by clicking on it, or by tabbing to it. The reason for this
behavior is that "many" ("most"?) people want the document to print as if
the result in the dropdown is just regular text and not a formfield at all.
The dropdown should appear "active" only when you're about to change its
value. The shading (which doesn't print) is supposed to be the clue that
there's a field there.

If you create a userform
(http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Userforms/CreateAUserForm.htm), the ComboBox
control -- roughly the equivalent of a dropdown -- lets you set the value of
the ShowDropButtonWhen property to never, always, or when selected. A
dropdown formfield isn't that flexible, and it gives you only the "when
selected" behavior. This is only one of dozens of reasons I prefer userforms
over protected forms.

 

[Guest]

Jay,

I am having a similar problem. When my document is protected, the dropdowns
work, however, when I try to enter text, my document takes me to the nearest
dropdown box. I can't enter data at all. When I unprotect the document, I
can enter text, but my drop down boxes don't work. What am I missing?

 

[Stefan Blom]

You cannot type text in a protected document, unless it also contains
a text form field (inserted from the Forms toolbar).

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Unlike combo boxes, drop-down form fields only permit selecting from among
the options provided.

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

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[Guest]

I was using the "tools" drop down menu to protect the document and my drop
down form fields wouldn't work. Then I tried the "protect form" icon on the
"forms" toolbar. Presto, it worked just like it is supposed to. Hope this
helps.

Cameron