Fill-in fields

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I am preparing a Word 2K template in which I’d like to have fill-in fields. They work fine, but my problem is that I’d like to have the place in the document where the fill-in field is going to show behind the pop-up box so the user can decide if they want to fill in that field or not. Any suggestions???

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Could you give some more information. I may be a little dense here, but what, exactly, are you referring to by “fill-in fields”??
Are you trying to set up something similar to the way that the toc/index entry dialog boxes work? Sorry to be thick, just need more info.
Rebecca Wiggins (GirlFriday)

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No problem, I should have been more specific. From the menu bar I did Insert/Field/ and chose FILLIN from the list of fields. I also put a prompt in quotation marks to display when the user accessed the form. I then protected the document as a form and saved it as a template (DOT file). When I do File/New and select the template it leaves the first page of the document on the screen and begins popping up the dialog boxes for the user to enter data. There are several of these dialog boxes and Word is not scrolling the document so the user can see the information they just filled-in in the dialog box. I want this because the form is a multipurpose legal form that gives the user the ability to select one or many of the fill-ins.

Hope this makes more sense. Thanks, Jeri (TBGOT)

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I understand you to be asking if you can show the location in the document where the fill-in field code is going to be used, so people understand better what’s being requested, and I don’t know how to do that. What I’ve done is use form fields, with the document protected. People tab through the document from field to field, so the fields are shown in context when people are filling them in. If the tabbing doesn’t automatically go to the correct next place (I can’t remember exactly why, would it have been if there are some REF fields, which get filled in automatically, so no need to stop there), I have a macro run on exit to go to the next field. When the users finish the fields, they unprotect the document and do other changes.

The caveat is that you have to provide a button to re-protect the document, else if you go into tools|protect document, all the fields will be reset to their defaults. It’s a Word feature. I have a macro run on exit from the fields to change the default to what they just entered, but that doesn’t work for all the fields (no doubt because I’m understanding what I’m doing somewhat imperfectly).

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Thank you for the info. I may have to use your approach if I can’t figure out how to do what I want to. Would you mind sharing your macro with me or directing me where to find the code to create it? Appreciate it.

This is a basic form that just needs to have some fields filled-in and boxes checked so the users will likely not need to unprotect/protect the document, but thanks for pointing that out for me.

Appreciate you help loads, Jeri (TBGOT)

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I’m no VBA expert, but I probably got these from someone else. I’m attaching the macro that replaces the default text with what was just entered, one of the macros that goes to the next field, and the safe form lock, which someone else just posted recently.

Sub DefaultTextReplace()
‘
‘ DefaultTextReplace Macro
‘ Macro created 99/04/28 by wcutler’
Dim vNewDefault As Variant
Dim vCurrentFormField As Variant

‘(get the current variable name)

vCurrentFormField = ActiveDocument.Range.Bookmarks(Selection.BookmarkID).Name
‘MsgBox vCurrentFormField
vNewDefault = ActiveDocument.FormFields(vCurrentFormField).Result

ActiveDocument.FormFields(vCurrentFormField).TextInput.Default = vNewDefault

End Sub
——————————–
Sub GoToOnSitePara()
‘
‘ GoToOnSitePara Macro
‘ Macro created 99/04/13 by wcutler
‘
ActiveDocument.Bookmarks(“RES_ON_SITE_IND”).Select
End Sub
——————————
Sub SafeFormLock()
‘
‘ SafeFormLock Macro
‘ Macro created 99/04/14 by wcutler
‘
If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType = wdNoProtection Then
ActiveDocument.Protect Type:=wdAllowOnlyFormFields, _
Password:=””, _
NoReset:=True
End If

End Sub

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Just wanted to point out that the form fields are set to “no proofing” so any text in the field won’t be spell checked.

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You may want to download and explore the following:
http://www.addbalance.com/word/download/AskForm.zip%5B/url%5D (11K)
http://www.addbalance.com/word/download/UserForm.zip%5B/url%5D (20K)

Examples of Word forms using formfields produced by the Forms toolbar can be found at:
http://www.addbalance.com/defense/SPD/paymentV.zip%5B/url%5D
http://www.addbalance.com/defense/SPD/spd_exp.zip%5B/url%5D
http://www.addbalance.com/defense/SPD/transreq.zip%5B/url%5D

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Thanks for your reply. I am using the Microsoft Legal user’s Guide for our training materials (with customizations). I downloaded a couple of your forms and am going to take a look at them. Appreciate the help!
Jeri

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You are welcome. If you have any customizations of the Legal Users Guide that you would be willing to share, I would like to look at them and perhaps incorporate them in my version.

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