Discussion on:

How to create an electronic form using Word 2010 content controls

For lost sould who don't have Internet access and we can take it to them offline?

A good article/blog post but...

1. Not available as a .pdf download
2. Can't print from the print link when you click on "more+"
3. Can't copy and paste the info into a Word doc without all of the info in black backgrounds.

If you're really trying to provide this info for us to use this one as made available is a bit of a flop.

I think that of TechRep blogs, it's only Susan's that present this annoyance. Coupla workarounds:
1. If you browse in Internet Explorer 8 and aim to create a searchable MSWord file, you can Sel_Copy TEXT portion, then paste into Wordpad. In Worpad Sel_Copy then paste into Word. Blackbackground will be gone. GRAPHICS you must capture separately, using, say SnagIt.

2. If you browse in, say, FireFox 3.0.1.9, you Sel_Copy and paste directly into Word, graphics and all.

The plan is to add a "Make this a PDF" button to all the blogs very soon. In the meantime, I will forward this discussion thread to the powers that be as an indication of how much this feature is desired.

Just so everyone knows -- this isn't something I can provide. I don't want you guys getting the idea that I could do this for you, but have chosen not to. Thanks for reading! -- Susan H.

1) Click just before the "H" in the title "How to create an electronic form using Word 2010 content controls" at the top. (You won't see a flashing cursor...just assume that it is there.)
2) Now, hold down the SHIFT key and scroll all the way down to the end of the article and, while still holding the SHIFT key, click at the end of the last paragraph (the one that ends with the words "gathering information"). The text and graphics of the article should be selected/highlighted.
3) Now, press CTRL+C to Copy
4) If necessary, open Word...if it is already open, make sure that a Blank document is active
5) With the cursor flashing at the top of the active document, Press CTRL+V to paste the copied article.
6) All of the article should paste with both the text and its graphics and none of what is on the right or left.
NOTE: You may find that there will be excess paragraph marks in the top portion of the pasted text because space will be made for the "Votes and Comments" box. Just delete what you don't want if that does happen.

Very useful this lesson
Thanks a lot

I'm glad you liked it!

Nicely done. This is a document that we can use to instruct "ordinary users". Thanks for the effort and keep it up!

I agree Salmanassar. This was exactly what I needed. Clean, concise with nothing excessive...GREAT!!

Thank you...
Rick

I've used form fields for years, but this is my first try with content controls. I protect the document just as you described and just as I had in the past, but when I tab into a control it treats the tab as a tab and adds 1/2" spacing within the individual content control. It doesn't tab to the next control. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks

Thanks, this was great! I haven't worked creating forms in 2007 or 2010 and I couldn't stop my work to figure it out and help this colleague or develop instructions for her. Now I don't have to.

D.

FINALLY got Word 2010 and am working on my first fillable form. So of course it has to be a little complicated. I've got the basics I think, plain text, date picker, check box are all on my form. However it's my understanding I can limit the amount of text in a field and can't sort that out. Also some areas of the form will have multiple dates so am I correct that would have to be in plain text only? When I click on Content Control Properties I have no real options except style.

As far as the article goes, it was okay but should be directed at one version or the other, to go back and forth I found confusing. You only are using one version at a time.

Thanks for a great article. It was well written and very informative. However...

The one problem I find with forms created using Word, is that the form filler needs Word too! Of course, most businesses and organisations do have access to Word, but many individuals don't! As such, a form created in Word is useless to a large number of users because they don't have the application to open it, let alone fill it in!

You don't have this problem with PDF forms because Adobe (and other developers) provide a free PDF reader so forms can be filled in by anyone. However, you do need Adobe LiveCycle or Acrobat to create PDF forms but these solutions are expensive and unlikely to be a cost-effective purchase for one-off or infrequent form design projects.

To solve the inaccessibility of Word forms and the expense of creating PDF forms, I decided to use a Windows application called InForm Designer. It allows me to create electronic forms extremely quickly, and even has functionality to enable only the filled in content to be printed on to pre-printed forms.

The licensing mechanism for InForm Designer makes it an extremely cost effective form design application. All you need to do is license the tools you use to design your forms. For example, if all you added to a form were text boxes and associated labels, all you would buy licences for are the Text Box tool and the Label tool (costing just $10 and $5).

Fly Software, who develop InForm Designer, also have a free-to-use InForm Filler application that can be used to open and fill in any InForm form. I guess you can liken this to Adobe Reader.

If you are interested in InForm Designer you can find out more and download it here...

http://www.flysoftware.com

I hope you find it as useful as I did.

Edit: For typos!

I agree with the above poster because I too use InForm Designer whenever I need to design a form.

Easy to use and its inexpensive. Give it a go yourself...

http://www.flysoftware.com/products/inform_designer/overview.asp

Hi,
Thanks for the writeup. However - how do you then use the values (ie. 1, 2 etc) you've assigned for the dropdown list entries ? In my project I can't get hold of the object name for the content control and therefore can't reference the selected values.
Object names for the textboxes I create come up via the Property window - but, the content control property window doesn't show the full set of object properties.
Thanks.
TM, Zambia.