Linking Rich Text Content Control Box to another Rich Text Content Control Box – different pages

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Hello,

I am using MS Word 2016 and am trying to create a template where I can:

1. Create a Date field (Rich Text Content Control Box) on a cover page of a document, that can be edited, but not deleted.
2. Have the date entered on the cover page of the document automatically inserted into the header
section on the pages following the cover page, using a second Rich Text Content Control Box.

I am sure there are other ways to reference in the date from a cover page, such as creating a bookmark on the cover and then referencing that bookmark
on the other pages. But, I would like to try to do this with the Rich Text Content Controls (found under the developer tab in MS Word).

The end result is to have an everyday user of word, open up a template, and create a new document without having to know about
advanced properties and macros in MS Word.

Note: I have created a Bookmark in MS Word on the Cover page and then inserted a cross reference to that bookmark in the header of other pages (with the header cross reference Grouped to prevent deletion). But, the user
could still inadvertently delete the specific bookmark placement, when updating the date on the cover page and I cannot group that bookmark, as I need to have the user insert a date. Also, using the Date Picker Content Control, is not in option for this project.

So to recap, is it possible to link two Rich Text Content Control Boxes to one other (one on the cover page and one on header pages) without going through a lot of effort and using macros, etc?

The only date I want the user to change is the date on the cover page. I really do like the Content Control boxes and how you can go into the Properties of these boxes to allow editing, and restrict deletion. That is a great feature. I just want to be able to link between two Content Control Boxes (even a pasted clone of the original). Is that possible? If not, do you have other simple solutions for Content Control Box linking?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Regards,

-J

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Replies

Simply apply a unique Style name to the Content Control’s range, then use a StyleRef field referencing that Style in the page header. There is no need for any bookmarks, the second Content Control, or a macro.

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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You can map the date cc then copy to header or wherever.

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Thanks jec1. Another great approach.

The date Content Control updates across different pages, but when I create a Rich Text Content Control on the cover
page and then copy it to the header of another page, it does not update when I change the text in the Rich Text Content Control, on the cover.

So, I guess there are limitations here on what will work and what will not work. By the way, I am using MS Word 2016.

The other thing (desired goal) would be to have the end user type in a (for example) publication number on the cover page (editable box that cannot be deleted)
and then have the “copied” Content control on the header of another page made such that it cannot be edited or deleted. The only way I found to do that
thus far was to group the content control on the header page so it could not be accidently erased. This is why I was looking to create two separate Content Controls
that could be linkable and locked – without having to use the group feature.

For now, the StyleREF to a Content Control Box on a cover page (that has a style applied to it and referenced) seems to be the best way to go.

Thanks again. All of this is very helpful.

Regards,

-J

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You are not mapping the control.
Search and download Greg Maxey Content Contol addin so you can map any content control.
My demo shows you a mapped cc.
Janine

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It is a richtext cc.

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Hi Janine,
I am not sure what you mean by “mapping the control”. I will look for Greg Maxey’s Content Control addin – but keep in mind, my
goal here is to create a simple template for users that will create documents, using a small number of styles and other features. They will
not be downloading any plugins or enabling the developer mode in MS Word or running macros. They will simply be putting data into the document (template).
If the plugin you mention carries through a template file, when opened by an end user, then that may be okay. But, the end goal, per my direction,
is to create a solid template where the user can simply focus on typing in content, without fussing with formatting, headers, footers, section breaks and more.
Thanks for your replies. I will look back to the addin you referenced and download it, to have on hand.
Regards,
-J

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James

I will insert your richtext cc into the Template I created when I finish adding Appdendices. I can change your Headings 1-9 if you wish and create separate Lists Styles for your numbering. Do you require your numbering to be indented. Was the 0.7 inch tab set for all levels enough? I can make it 0.8 for your tab sets.

Users do nothing for mapped CCs. You design a template with Styles and content and your users do a File New to create a copy.

You only need to download Greg Maxey Content Control addin and create a richtext content control which will be automatically mapped. Mapping means the cc will duplicate wherever it is copied to. You can also edit the cc anywhere it exists you do not need to go back to cover page. The edit will reflect throughout your document. You can also mark the cc Do Not Delete and even unmap it which you do not want to do.

My template is created with Word 2016. I will set a cover page with a mapped rich text CC and place in the other pages header.

Your users do nothing except enter a typed date “21 March 2017” for example. Whatever they type will be reflected throughout your template.

Regards
Janine

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Hi Janine,

That sounds really great on the CCs you mention in your template.
I look forward to checking it out.

Please see my reply to Andrew below too.

My finished template needs to have 2-3 numbers on the cover page, that will carry through
to the header pages (globally). The CCs I need would contain only numbers (i.e. publication number, contract number, etc.).

Thanks again for your input and time.

Regards,

James

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Hi again all,

I just tried inserting a Document Property and it works as needed.

From MS Word 2016, I went to Insert>Quick Parts and chose Document Property and then Abstract from the drop down menu.

I put this Document Property box on my cover page and gave it some unique text. Next, I copied it over to a header page on another page.
Next, I changed the text on the cover page and it immediately updated the text in the header page on the other page.

Finally, I locked the “COPIED” Document Property Abstract box on the Header page, so the box could not be deleted or edited.
I then went back to the box on the cover page and was able to make edits to that box, which was also set so that it could not be deleted.

The end result is a box (Abstract Text Document Property) which can be updated by a user at the cover page. Then, the information will automatically update across all header pages. The headers of course, containing the same Document Property Abstract box, which cannot be edited or changed.

This approach allows me to reduce the number of styles used too, as well as the need for creating STYLEREFs.

Thanks Charles for sharing this and thanks to all for your support. Good stuff here all around.

-J

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Hi Paul,

Thanks, that works great.
I can now reference to a style or a bookmark from the cover page – to my header page, on a different page.
And, to protect the header from getting inadvertantly deleted or rearranged, I can “group” the STYLEREF field in the header, to keep it from getting deleted.

This will work for me, but I would also like to link between Content Control boxes, as I am trying to reduce the number of styles in the template, that will be used by the end
user. I will look at Charles post next, but for now, your solution does the job and does it very well.

Thanks as always for the assistance.

Regards,

Jim

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Paul pointed you to the SyleRef Field; it is like magic. Look into it.

It is possible to have Content Controls mapped so that their contents are linked, but that would be overkill here.
Repeating Data Using Document Property Content Controls gives one method.

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The StyleRef field is the simplest and most robust solution. Mapped Content Controls work very well but require an investment in time. It is not possible to save a mapped content control as AutoText so you have to redo things each time you create a new template. I don’t have a problem with too many styles, I just set the special use ones to have a very low priority and perhaps do not have them show up in Quick Styles. They could even be marked as hidden using the Manage Styles dialog.

By the way, the StyleRef field works pretty well when used in the body of a document as well.

The method outlined in the page I linked works well but the document property content controls are the equivalent of plain text controls.

To use rich text controls, you need to actually map the control yourself. Greg Maxey’s Content Control Tools will let you do that without programming knowledge.

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James/Janine

You need to be careful of terminology here. You have mentioned a RichText CC multiple times here but the Abstract doc property is a Plain Text CC. If it was a Rich Text CC you would be able to put multiple paragraphs in there and use more than one style. You ‘can’ change the CC property to allow carriage returns but in practice this is actually a soft return and not a new paragraph.

When you go to Insert > Quick Parts > Document Property you get a CC that is ALREADY linked to a built-in document property. None of those are Rich Text CCs. If you only need to link a limited number of CCs then this is an easy way to do it since the linking is already in place.

If you want a date to be in the CC, the only one built in is Publish Date which uses a Date Picker CC. This is great and can be formatted in different ways in different locations.

You can also add other CCs via the Developer Tab and can link them to your own embedded XML by using Greg Maxey’s template. However, Rich Text CCs and linked XML is NOT a match made in heaven :o: so you are likely using Plain Text CCs for most of that work.

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Hello Andrew,

Thanks for the clarification on CCs. I appreciate it. I am new to the world of Content Controls and am trying to understand it all. In reality,
I only need a plain text CC versus a rich text CC – if it gives me the font type and size needed. I think using built in document properties (that are already linked) is a simple and effective approach. And, there are probably fewer things to go wrong . The Document Properties Abstract CC is working for me right now and so I will use that for the now. In the future, I will dive into other more expansive CCs. Right now though, I need to get this template finished in a few days and there are other issues I am trying to fix (as seen in my other post).

Regards,

James

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I think Andrew summed up pretty well.

The CC that Janine provided was a mapped rich text content control. It works fine in that document. You cannot copy a mapped control from one document to another and retain the mapping. Mapping alters the XML of the document.

You can, on the other hand, put a mapped content control in a template and have the mapping carry over into new documents based on that template. I believe that is what you are trying to do and it should work fine.

All of the document property content controls except the publish date are plain text. Publish date is a date picker. These controls are mapped. They are a special case of mapped controls. Greg Maxey’s utility gives you the ability to map any content control without understanding the process and XML.

If you apply the “do not delete” property to any mapped content control, that change applies to all copies of it.

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Hi Charles,

Thanks for the additional information on the Content Controls. Yes, for what I need now, the Document Property Content Controls seem to be the way to go.

Regards,

James

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If you apply the “do not delete” property to any mapped content control, that change applies to all copies of it.

Charles
Are you sure about that? I don’t see that behaviour in Word 2013. This might be a semantics issue though – if I copy a CC to multiple places then the properties on the original get pasted to the multiple places too. But I can then alter the properties on any of those CC instances so that one of them CAN be deleted or edited.

James
If your template only needs a few different mapped CCs then make use of the built-in ones available. For instance you could arbitrarily insert a ‘Category’ CC and then change its Title property to ‘Publication Number’. If you wanted to also set its placeholder text so its default empty value prompts the author too then you can go to the Developer > Design Mode and edit the text in [grey]. Don’t remove the square brackets unless you want to change the appearance of the default text. Note that once the CC has content you won’t see the placeholder text and its appearance will be as per the style applied.
46852-CC_Properties

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Hi Andrew/Charles,

I am using MS Word 2016 and intend to use the built in CCs for simplicity and reliability. I did have a question on the (behind the scenes) linking between Document Property CCs.
For example, I insert an “Abstract” CC on a cover page and make it so you can edit the field, but not delete the box. Next I copy and paste that same box to a header on another page and modify the properties there, such that I can not edit or delete that copied box. Is this reliable, such that any change in the text on the cover page “Abstract CC” now globally updates all the headers with the pasted version (the pasted version being different in that you cannot delete or edit that box)? It sounds like the characteristics may have changed with new versions of Word (i.e. MS Word 2013 / MS Word 2016) and I just want to confirm that this approach is and will be reliable, before choosing this path. I think I know the answer, just want to confirm.

Thanks once again for your thoughts and suggestions on this topic.

Regards,

James

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Hi Andrew/Charles,

I am using MS Word 2016 and intend to use the built in CCs for simplicity and reliability. I did have a question on the (behind the scenes) linking between Document Property CCs.
For example, I insert an “Abstract” CC on a cover page and make it so you can edit the field, but not delete the box. Next I copy and paste that same box to a header on another page and modify the properties there, such that I can not edit or delete that copied box. Is this reliable, such that any change in the text on the cover page “Abstract CC” now globally updates all the headers with the pasted version (the pasted version being different in that you cannot delete or edit that box)? It sounds like the characteristics may have changed with new versions of Word (i.e. MS Word 2013 / MS Word 2016) and I just want to confirm that this approach is and will be reliable, before choosing this path. I think I know the answer, just want to confirm.

Thanks once again for your thoughts and suggestions on this topic.

Regards,

James

I don’t know of any differences between 2013 and 2016 with the Document Property Content Controls. As far as I know, these have been stable since Word 2007. Yes, you can insert one, change the title, and copy it elsewhere. Then make the copies such that they cannot be deleted or edited. I agree with Andrew that you would not want to have different settings for allowing carriage returns.

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Charles
Are you sure about that? I don’t see that behaviour in Word 2013. This might be a semantics issue though – if I copy a CC to multiple places then the properties on the original get pasted to the multiple places too. But I can then alter the properties on any of those CC instances so that one of them CAN be deleted or edited.

***

I was sure, but mistaken.

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I think it is consistent and good for regular use.

You will encounter problems if both CCs differ in their setting to allow line breaks and for that reason I wouldn’t recommend you tinker with that setting.

I don’t use Word 2106 much but haven’t run into problems there as yet.

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Thanks Charles and Andrew.

Some good information from you both on the Content Controls.
I am using up some of the available Document Property Content Controls for my effort. That approach works
well and the linking to copied CCs is reliable. I see though that once you use (abstract for example),
you cannot use the same CC again for another named CC, as that name is now reserved (so to speak). Luckily,
there are enough Document Property CCs (that I will use copies of), that I am covered. And, if I need to create
a CC that is not going to be mirrored across the document, then I can simply use a Plain Text CC from within the Developer tab. Carriage Returns is not an issue for the template I am developing.
Thanks again for the great feedback and I look forward to working with CCs more and more.

Regards,

James

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