Drop down form filelds in Word 2007

[Guest]

I have been using drop down form fields in Word 2000 and 2003 without any
issues. Generally speaking, to activate the form fields I would click
"protect" form button and and select any item that I wanted in all the drop
down field that were on the document and once done I would click the protect
form again to make the selection stick so to speak.

Now in Word 2007 when I open my documents, I see where the drop down form
fields are and I can create more (in the ribbon, under Developer tab and
under controls by using "legacy").

The problem is that I cannot find any way to activate these form fields to
pick an item in the drop down list. The protect form button on the ribbon
does not activate these drop down fields.

Please someone advise,
Thanks,

 

[Jay Freedman]

The Protect Document button on the ribbon acts like the Tools >
Protect Document menu item in Word 2003, not like the "lock icon"
button on the old Forms toolbar. All it does is open the Protect
Document task pane. From there you have to check the box for "Allow
only this type of editing", and then set the dropdown below it to
"Filling in forms", and finally fill or dismiss the password dialog.
It's a huge PITA.

The (almost) equivalent of the lock icon button can be added to the
Quick Access Toolbar. Click the down arrow at the end of the QAT and
choose More Commands to open the Customize dialog. Choose the category
"Commands Not in the Ribbon", select the Protect Document command, and
click the Add button. This button on the QAT brings up a small dialog
(actually, the Protect Document dialog from Word 2000) and all you
have to do is click OK or hit Enter. That's two clicks instead of six
or seven.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
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