Feature
Article
Thomas F. Fischer
Blue Chip News
Contact Information:
SVCA
Copyright 1997 Saginaw Valley Computer Association. Reprinted by permission.
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Making Forms in MS Word
Use MS Word for "fill-in-the-blank" forms.
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Have you ever wanted to make a form that you could send to friends, clients, or others? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to set this form up so that they could complete the form in Word, without having to worry that they might mess up the formatting or erase the form completely?
Now you can. Word 2000 (and, perhaps, previous versions of Word) allows the creation of forms using Word's "Forms" toolbar. Best of all, it's easy!
Sample Form
Suppose you would like to develop an order form for individuals to order widgets from your newly-formed widget company. A very simple form would require two areas - unchangeable items and changeable items. The unchangeable items area would include such things as a stationery header and footer, an area indicating customer's name, address, phone number, etc., an area to indicate the name of the item and the price, and a return address. The changeable items area would include the areas which the client needs to complete.
Step One: Form Design
The first step in any adventure is to design the form. What do you want it to look like? What information do you need? What styling do you wish to include?
Step Two: Create the Header and Footer
Using Word's "View…Header and Footer" command from the menu, create the header and footer which you wish to have for your form. Fonts, graphics, borders, shading and all kinds of other features may be used at your discretion. When completed, exit the Header and Footer area.
Step Three: Display And Learn The "Forms" Toolbar
 In order to create the form you will need features available on the "Forms" toolbar. Go to "View…Toolbars…" for a listing of all Word toolbars. Activate the Forms toolbar by selecting it with the mouse. This toolbar has several controls. To display their names, hold the mouse pointer over each of the buttons for a second or two.
Moving from left to right, the first control is the "Text Form Field." Clicking on this will create a gray-colored "fill in the blank" text field. Next is the "Check Box Form Field." Use this feature to make "check-off" areas on your form. The third control is the "Drop-Down Form Field" which creates a drop-down listbox. When individuals click on the arrow to the right of the box, a customized listing of items appear from which they can select.
Next is "Form Field Options" which is used to customize the properties of each of the three controls above. This button is active only after a Text, Checkbox, or Drop-down form field has been placed in the document.
The "Draw Table," "Insert Table," and "Insert Frame" controls are the same as those on Word's "Standard Toolbar." However, these are placed on the Forms toolbar since tables are often used to simplify the formatting and design of forms. A most common use of tables is for any kind of multiple-columned items. The "Form Field Shading" control toggles the color of the fields between gray (default) and white (no shading).
The "Protect Form" control "protects" the contents and formatting of the unchanging parts of the document so that users can access/alter only those areas which require their input (the form fields). Users cannot change the document in any way when it is protected.
Step Four: Make Your Form!
The fourth step is to make the form that you designed using common features of Word and the Forms toolbar. Tables can be used to simplify the formatting of a form. For example, if you have areas of the form requesting "Name," "Address," "City," "State," "Zip," and "Phone," these can be most easily placed into the left column of a two-column table with a row for each item (in this case, six rows).
Widgets Order Form
In the right column of the table insert the desired field type (text field, check box field, or drop-down box field) from the Forms toolbar. To insert the desired field, click the mouse pointer once in the column and row desired (which places the text cursor). Then select the desired field type from the Forms toolbar. In order to customize the field's appearance, font, default text, etc, one can either right-click directly on the form field, or go to the "Form Field Options" control on the toolbar.
Note that the Text Form Field can be fully customized for text or numbers and automatically put into numerical formats (e.g. parentheses and hyphens for phone numbers). Default text, numbers and formatting can also be added.
The "Insert Frame" control is helpful for putting extra text or pictures on the form. This is especially helpful when using tables as the basis for form design. Format the table to whatever size is desired for the form. Format the text for each item in whatever font, color or format is desired.
Step Five: Protect The Document
When the form is completed, select the "Protect Form" control. This will protect the overall layout you have just created from being changed. Unfortunately, this protection is not foolproof. Those who know about the Forms toolbar can simply deselect the "Protect Form" control and edit the document any way they wish. However, you can protect the document with a password. To enable password protection, you can us the "Protect Document…" command under "Tools" on the main menu. Perhaps the best way is to include the "Protect Document…" command on the Forms toolbar. To customize the Forms toolbar, go to "Tools, Customize…" Under the "Commands" file tab, find the command "Protect Document" in the Tools toolbar area. Click and drag the "Protect Document" command to the Forms toolbar and release. This command is now part of the Forms toolbar and is readily available during the creation of all your forms. Click the "Protect Document" control to add password protection to your current document.
Step Six: Save And Send The Form
The form is now ready for use. Just save it. Then use this form by attaching it to email or whatever usage you may have. Just ask them to complete the form, save it, and return it to you. It's that simple!
Limitations: As helpful as Word's Forms feature is, the major drawback is that forms cannot be linked to Excel, Access, or other databases. It is simply a stand-alone feature for enabling simple completion of forms. Those desiring greater functionality may find the Forms features in Access or other databases much more satisfactory for their uses. Those who do not require this functionality will find Word's Forms feature to be quite adequate as well as designer- and user-friendly.
Try It!
Forms are helpful. Whatever your purpose, Word's Forms features can help provide functionality to easy form design and completion. And anything that makes life easier is certainly worth it. Try it today!
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