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 it 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: stationery header and footer, areas indicating the customer information, areas to indicate the name and price of the item, and return address.
The changeable items area would include the areas that 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 Headers and Footers
Using Word's "View/Header and Footer" command from the menu, create the header and footer that 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 that are available on the "Forms" toolbar. Go to "View/Toolbars..." for a listing of all Word toolbars. Activate the Forms toolbar by clicking on "Forms" with the mouse.
This toolbar has several features. To display their names, hold the mouse pointer over each of the icons.
[Ab]: This is the "Text Form Field" icon. Clicking on this icon will create a gray-colored "fill in the blank" text field.
ž: This is the "Check Box Form Field" icon. Use this feature to make check-off areas in your form.
"Drop-Down Form Field" icon creates a drop-down box. When individuals click on the arrow to the right of the box, a customized listing of items appears from which they can select.
"Form Field Options" icon is used to customize the properties of each of the three options above. This icon is available only after a text, check box, or drop-down form field is inserted.
The "Draw Table," "Insert Table," and "Insert Frame" commands 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 formatting and design in forms. A common use of tables is for any kind of multiple-columned items.
"Form Field Shading" icon toggles the color of the fields between gray (default) and white (no shading).
The "Protect Document" icon "protects" the formatting of the unchanging parts of the form so that users can access/alter only those areas that require their input. Users cannot change the formatting of the document in any way when the document 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" Icon: 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, place the mouse pointer in the column and row desired. Then select the desired field type from the Forms toolbar. In order to customize the fields (appearance, font, default text, etc.), one can either right-click directly on the form field, or go to the "Form Field Options" icon on the Forms toolbar.
Note that the Text Form field can be fully customized for text or numbers and automatically put them into numerical formats (e.g., parentheses and hyphens for phone numbers). Default text, numbers and formatting can also be added.
"Insert Frame" icon: This feature 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, and format are desired.
Step Five: Protect the Document
When the form is complete, select the "Protect Form" icon. This will protect the form you have just created from being changed. Unfortunately, this protection is not foolproof. Those who know how to use the Forms toolbar can simply unclick the "Protect Form" icon and edit the form any way they wish.
But you can protect the document with a password. To enable password protection for the form, select the command "Protect Document" from Tools on the main menu bar. Here you can add password protection to your current form.
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 e-mail 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 it 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.
