Word Forms - problems with document protection and certain fields

G

Guest

Hi there -
I'm trying to create some forms in Word 2003 that will allow our employees
to complete certain fields as needed. The first problem came up when trying
to use radio buttons in the forms -- when the template has been protected and
saved, the buttons didn't work when the user opens the form to complete it.
I replaced the radio buttons with check boxes, which worked fine - however
now I need to be able to include a large text box for data entry of varying
length. I tried to insert a table and put a text field inside the table cell
so that users could type there - however if they hit the enter key while
typing the cell increases in size and pushes the form content too far down
the page. I tried using a text box, however once the template is protected
users aren't able to type in the box.

Any suggestions for what to do to make this work better? I'm sure I'm
missing something - just not sure what... Thanks in advance!
 
J

Jay Freedman

Your first solution, to put the text form field in a table cell, is on the
right track. You need one more step:

With the cursor in that row (and with the form template unprotected so you
have access to all commands), go to Table > Table Properties > Row. Check
the box for "Specify height", set the value to the largest depth you want to
allow for the form field, and change from "At least" to "Exactly". Click OK,
and protect and save the form.

This isn't quite a cure-all. If the user presses Enter in the form field,
any text that follows it within the field will disappear under the bottom of
the table cell. That's fine if all you want to do with the form is print it.
If you extract the field contents into a database or something like that,
the "extra" invisible text is still there.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
G

Guest

That did it - thank you!

Jay Freedman said:
Your first solution, to put the text form field in a table cell, is on the
right track. You need one more step:

With the cursor in that row (and with the form template unprotected so you
have access to all commands), go to Table > Table Properties > Row. Check
the box for "Specify height", set the value to the largest depth you want to
allow for the form field, and change from "At least" to "Exactly". Click OK,
and protect and save the form.

This isn't quite a cure-all. If the user presses Enter in the form field,
any text that follows it within the field will disappear under the bottom of
the table cell. That's fine if all you want to do with the form is print it.
If you extract the field contents into a database or something like that,
the "extra" invisible text is still there.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 

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