#Rich Text Control In Word Series Of Articles#

Rich Text Control In Word Series Of Articles

There is an excellent 5 part series of articles by Dian D. The best text editing and processing software, Microsoft Word, offers in this standalone version of Office for Mac computers all its greatest.Word forms using 'legacy' form fields have been around since at least Word 97. 8/10 (220 votes) - Download Microsoft Word Mac Free. Some control words (indicated in the following table by an asterisk following the description) can be turned off by the control word followed by 0. A control word preceding plain text turns on the specified attribute.

I'll demonstrate the other methods and explain 'albeit practically useless' later in the discussion.To apply editing restrictions to the form, click Developer>Protect>Restrict Editing. This method is already familiar to users moving from legacy forms and it offers, the albeit practically useless, password protection. Unfortunately, as with legacy forms, there is no perfect, ideal method and each has its advantages and disadvantages.For our basic form, I will use traditional document editing restrictions вЂ” Filling in forms. Content controls continue to evolve and have been steadily expanded and enhanced as each new Office suite version is released.Note: I have a summary and a steadily growing collection of subject articles on content controls beginning here: Content Controls.While the legacy form fields are still available through Word 2013, and several long standing content control shortcomings remain in my opinion, content controls stand poised to relegate 'legacy' form fields to the dust bin of history.This Microsoft Word Help & Tips page will show you how to create a functional content control form 'similar' to the insurance application form example that Dian uses in part 2 of her legacy form series.Basic form with fill-in plain text and checkbox content controls Restrict Editing вЂ” Filling in formsAs with any form, a Word content control form is supposed to maintain 'form.' You want the form user to input information is the spaces provided, and not be able to alter other content or your form layout.There are a couple of ways that you can do this with content control forms.

When you reach the last form content control, tabbing stops. Unlike with legacy forms, the tabbing sequence is not a continuous loop. I've not shown you anything, yet, that you can't do with legacy form fields! In fact, a content control form developed to the point demonstrated has several nagging shortcomings, and one serious design flaw.

To define set properties for an individual content control, perform the following: The first thing you should do when employing content controls in forms, or for any other purpose, is define and set properties. Unfortunately any placeholder text that remains visible and displayed in the document on the screen, is also visible in a printed document.Modifying and building on the basic form to create a more functional formThere are several basic steps that you can take to improve and add functionality to the basic form. The 'The click here to enter text.' placeholder text is created by default when rich text and plain text content controls are created and inserted in a document. You can't use the tab key to move from a checkbox to the next checkbox in a series of checkboxes or to the next control when the form is protected using traditional editing restrictions type: Filling in forms. The checkbox content controls in the basic form are not available in Word 2007.

As a minimum, you should assign each content control a title.For Each oCC In ActiveDocument.ContentControlsStrText = oCC.DropdownListEntries(1).TextOCC.SetPlaceholderText , , 'Choose ' & strTextOCC.SetPlaceholderText , , 'Set ' & strTextSee: Installing Macros for instructions on how to set up and use the macros provided in this Microsoft Word Help & Microsoft Word Tips page.If you use the VBA procedure or just study the process, you will understand the value of applying properties to your form content controls!!At this point we have completely defined the functional form in the first illustration. Fill in properties and click OK. Click Developer>Controls>Properties to display the Content Control Properties dialog.

See: Content Control Grouping and Navigation and Content Control - Do Not Print Placeholder Text.For many form designers, avoiding VBA procedures and the related security issues are a primary concern. Both are covered in greater detail and can be overcome using VBA procedures. The latter is significantly more problematic. The first, while a nuisance, is minor and inconsequential. The user can tab completely through the form and input all the information requested.Remaining are the issues with the continuous loop tab and the placeholder text in uncompleted content controls. We have eliminated the problem using form checkboxes in general and the specific problem of using content control checkboxes in forms with editing restrictions.

Legacy forms are pretty drab and their inherent protection requirement disables a large part of Word's formatting and editing capabilities. Moving beyond legacy formsLet's face it. Still, there has to be something else to make the effort worthwhile. The control itself becomes prominent when the user enters the control.By applying the techniques described above, I feel that form designers can create a content control form that equals in nearly every case what legacy form designers can produce. The only remaining viable option, that I know of, is to simply set the placeholder text to to nothing and let the form design itself serve as the visual cue for data entry fields.The form layout itself provides sufficient cues for the user to where data entryIs required.

'Albeit practically useless' password protectionThe security offered by applying a password to traditional editing restrictions only protects you from the bumbling form user who may inadvertently remove groupings or the rich text control editing properties, or the malicious user who knows or discovers how to remove groupings and rich text editing properties. With the exception of the short delay mentioned above, it seems to perform well and hopefully with additional testing, I can confirm and recommend it as the best method. I do not understand or know of a work around for the short delays.I'm pretty excited about this method. There is some short delay experienced when performing some tasks (e.g., undo). A password can be applied to the protection method. Advantages/enhancements using content control formsThe checkbox content control introduced with Word 2010 can be formatted to display practically any combination of pairs to represent the true/false state of the condition.

Rich Text Control In Word For Mac