How do I protect a form, but allow for fill in

[Guest]

I've created a form in Word. Used control toolbox to create text boxes for
fill in. I want to protect the doc, but allow for fill ins.. when I use the
Protection option and select Fill in Forms. it works fine.... Until I save,
close and reopen (to test) and the entire doc is locked.... I have to
unprotect and this allow changes to the entire form...what am I doing or not
doing.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You're mixing apples and oranges. For a protected form, you must use the
controls (text boxes, check boxes, and dropdown lists) from the Forms
toolbar, not the Controls toolbox, which inserts ActiveX controls more
suitable for UserForms. See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/FillinTheBlanks.htm and especially
the forms tutorials by Dian Chapman that this article links to.

See also “WD2002: Can't Unprotect Protected Form That Contains a Control
Toolbox Controlâ€
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=275975

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

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[Jay Freedman]

Protection for forms is intended to be used with fields from the Forms
toolbar, not with ones from the Control Toolbox. They're completely separate
mechanisms.

For a protected form, see
http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=22.

For Control Toolbox widgets, see
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnword2k2/html/odc_activeX.asp.

The big problem with Control Toolbox widgets is that they trigger Word's
macro security mechanism. This is a giant pain that makes them practically
useless. Use text fields from the Forms toolbar instead.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
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