Massive headaches creating a form in Word 2007.

[Guest]

Hi all, I'm trying to make an expense report in Word 2007. Here's what I'm
running into. First, if you ask why I'm doing it this way, I want to use the
Date Picker control, that I can't find in Excel! So I formed a table, and
worked out the rows and columns. Now, here's where the problems start. When I
put the page into "developer" mode, all the formatting goes screwy, as the
control size is different in developer mode than in the normal mode. Next, I
find I can't constrain a column in the table to be dollars... The only way I
can see to make any type of constraint on a cell (there is no "format cell"
option) is to use a "text control" on the cell, and lock it's properties.

So now I'm going to give up, go back to Excel, and live without the Date
Picker (why oh why is it available in one app and not the other? Microsoft,
what about some uniformity here? Or is that too much to ask?).

So, I'm no Office expert (I'm sure that's obvious to anyone who read this)
but I can't for the life of me see why this is so hard?

Also, when I went to the help for Word, and I typed "How to change cell
properties in Word" the first response I get is "Add a cell, row or column to
a table" and the next is "View or change the properties for an Office
Document". So the help files are pretty much useless as well.

Any help here?

 

[Guest]

Matt,
I'm not sure what you are trying to do, but perhaps this will help. You can
create a table in Word, enter numbers in one column, and have them formatted
in another column. In cell B1, enter, say, 12.62. In cell A1, insert a
formula. (In Word 2007, go to the Table Layout tab, and select Formulas,
over on the right.) The formula is "=PRODUCT(b1,1) \#
"$#,##0.00;($#,##0.00)", which uses a predefined format. Now, the cell
displays $ 12.62. If cell B2 changes, you have to do Ctrl-A (select all),
and F9 (update fields).
Does that help?
Chris

 

[Guest]

Hi Christopher,
Thanks for trying, but that's not the issue. I wanted to make a table in
Word so I could use the "date picker" control, but found that there were so
many issues in getting it to work that I just punted, used Excel, gave up on
using the "date picker" and banged out an expense report template in no time
flat.

It's really too bad, but what I found most frustrating was that the controls
aren't uniform across the applications. To do a pick list in Word, you set
the control properties in the developer area. To do it in Excel, you create a
list elsewhere in the document, and use data verification to compare what's
enetered against a the list you created elsewhere.

I guess it's live and learn!

Matt

 

[Graham Mayor]

See http://www.gmayor.com/popup_calendar.htm
This works in both Word and Excel - though the associated vba for Excel may
be a tad different.

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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

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