Word Tab field Templates?

[JessicaN]

I'm trying to find out if Word has a certain "tab into" feature, and wa
hoping someone could help me...

I work for an advertising and design firm. Currently, our clients us
an acrobat template (that they can email to us) to request new busines
cards, documents, etc. The problem is, few of our clients work i
Acrobat. They use Word.

My question is this:
Is there a program, add-on, whatever, that will allow us to personaliz
fields that can be tabbed into (mouse-click not required)? I also nee
the form to have the option of being LOCKED. We don't want the headach
of having fifty different forms emailed to us that people ar
personalizing for themselves. We want a standard, locked form that ca
be emailed to us and saved easily on their own computers. Btw, we wor
with Macs, and our clients are on PC.

I appreciate anyone's help with this question... I don't hav
experience in Word or it's features. I work solely in InDesign. Word i
VERY foreign to me

 

[EmileeSuzanne]

Wow -- I OWN an advertising and design company, but I have also taugh
all of the Microsoft programs, so maybe I can help. The only questio
I'm not sure about is the Mac to PC thing.

Specifically, in Word, you can create a 'FORM'. You insert field
using the Forms Tool Bar, and after you're finished you "lock" th
form. This makes the form "tabable" as you say. You can furthe
prevent changes to your document by password protecting it. The use
would then have to "Save As" to their computer. The text that i
outside the actual form fields you have inserted isn't accessibl
unless they actually open their forms toolbar and unlock the form -
which a lot of people don't know how to do.

Look into the "Help" menu for more information, or post back here.
To open your Forms toolbar, View to Toolbars to Forms.
Good luck!

Emilee
(e-mail address removed)

 

[JessicaN]

Thanks! I'll check it out

 

[Dayo Mitchell]

Hi Jessica,

One of these pages should answer your questions:

To Create Fill in the Blank Lines:
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/tblsfldsfms/LinesInForms.htm

Please Fill out this Form
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/FillinTheBlanks.htm

However, Acrobat can produce forms that people with only Acrobat Reader can
click on and fill out, so why not go that route? It's not like people need
full expensive Acrobat to use them. (I don't know how, but I know I've
filled them out).

Please note that WordForums.com is a very inefficient way to access these
newsgroups. It is not an independent, self-sufficient website, but simply
piggybacks onto public, international newsgroups. It mirrors the Microsoft
public news server, and mirrors it slowly at that. Your questions show up on
the server hours after you post them, and it seems the answers show up back
at the site late. The majority of the people who may respond to your
question are not using the site.

See here for some suggestions on other ways to access the newsgroups.
http://word.mvps.org/FindHelp/index.htm

And, just FYI:

Some Tips and "Gotchas" for those who are new to Word
Especially if migrating from WordPerfect
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/TipsAndGotchas.htm

For the most part, Word on the Mac is very similar to WinWord. Internal
manipulations might be on different menus, but are all there. Macros are at
VBA5, equivalent to Word 97. See here for more info (might not work in
Safari, sorry):

A note on the differences between Mac and WinWord:
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/WordMac/Differences.htm

For Mac-specific problems that involve glitches with Word, software/hardware
interactions or installation issues rather than manipulating Word itself to
produce a document, you are probably better off posting in a Mac newsgroup:

microsoft.public.mac.office.word

You can access these through the MS site, via Google Groups, or by setting
up a newsreader.
For Mac groups on the MS site, see here (note URL broken by text wrapping)
http://communities2.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx
?guid=366BA05D-4181-BB41-B201-4C83D5F6024C

Newsreaders are usually most efficient--here's a link on how to configure a
newsreader (e.g. Entourage or Outlook Express, note that URL is broken by
text wrapping)
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/community/community.aspx?pid=newsgroups&page=ne
wsgroupsetup

Here's a link on how to spamproof your address to protect it if using
Entourage:
http://www.entourage.mvps.org/help/nospam.html
re Outlook Express
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/techie.grim/macfaq/articles/046.html

FYI,
microsoft.public.mac.office
microsoft.public.mac.office.excel
microsoft.public.mac.office.powerpoint
microsoft.public.mac.office.entourage
Also exist.

DM