AutoText entry

[Rosemary]

Hi,

Can you store headers and footers in an AutoText entry? I
have a letterhead template that I want to partially fill
in and store as Auto-Text. The letterhead is inside the
header and footer, and I want that to be a part of the
AutoText entry.

Thanks,

 

[Jay Freedman]

Certainly you can! In fact, if the text that you store is formatted with the
Header style or the Footer style, its name will appear in the dropdown list
of the AutoText Entries button in the Header/Footer toolbar.

For more on AutoText, see
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/customization/AutoText.htm.

 

[Rosemayr]

Thanks, Jay. I did a CTRL + A to select the entire
document, but AutoText did not include the headers and
footers in the entry. How do I select an entire document,
including its headers and footers, and make it into an
AutoText entry?

Thanks,

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi, Rosemary,

Ah, unfortunately that's not possible. You can open the Header pane, select
the text of the header (only), and make that into an AutoText entry. You can
select the body of the document and make that into another entry. You can't
put everything into one entry, though.

However, I don't quite understand where you're going with this. Since you're
creating a letter template, why not simply leave the letterhead as the
(first-page) header, and with the "boilerplate" text already in the body?
For guidance, see http://home.earthlink.net/~wordfaqs/Letterhead.htm.

 

[Guest]

Hi Jay,

I have in fact created a template with a macro that allows
secretaries to select an attorney - that attorney's
information is then placed into an empty cell designated
for that purpose, and the letterhead is created.

In the template, I have the first page letterhead in the
header, a logo in the first page footer, and a second page
header with "Page 2", etc.

To access the template, secretaries have to go to File -
New - Letterhead tab - Letterhead Template - then select
the attorney's name and click "OK". Instead of going
through all these steps, they want a button on their
toolbar that they can click once and have their
personalized letterhead created. I have been all over the
block with this issue, including creating a new macro for
creating toolbar buttons. After all this, I settled on
using an AutoText entry with a button on the toolbar
instead. But now I've run into this other problem - I
can't store both headers and the footer inside the
AutoText entry.

So that is the history of this particular AutoText entry.
Any ideas???

Thanks,
Rosemary

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You could create your template with a bookmark or DocProperty field in the
header where the attorney's name should go, then use a UserForm to collect
the information to write to that bookmark or document property. Since there
is a known list of attorneys, you can use a dropdown list on the UserForm to
allow users to select the appropriate one. For instructions on setting up a
UserForm to use a bookmark, see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Userforms/CreateAUserForm.htm

Another possibility is an AutoTextList field; see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/AutoTextList.htm

Or you might want to get Bill Coan's DataPrompter add-in to totally automate
the production of custom UserForms. See
http://www.wordsite.com/DataPrompter.html

 

[Greg]

Rosemary,

Why don't you record a macro of the steps to open the
desired template and then assign the macro to a toolbar
icon?

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Rosemary

Both Suzanne and Greg have given reasonable suggestions. To minimize the
work in getting from your existing template to what you want, I'll just
point out that there's no reason your macro can't insert two or more
AutoText entries to set up a single letterhead document. Use one for the
body and another for the header.

If you want me to look at your template and suggest changes, zip it and mail
it to me (and I hope my spam filter doesn't eat it).

 

[Charles Kenyon]

I suspect you are better off with customized templates than with macros.
Those templates can call in or incorporate aspects of a base template as
they are used to create new documents. This can be done using macros or
AutoText (or both). By properly using styles and styleref fields in your
headers you can also make the continuation pages headers much more specific
to your letters.

Take a look at:

Letterhead Tips and Instructions
http://home.zebra.net/~sbarnhill/Letterhead.htm

Letterhead Textboxes and Styles tutorial
http://addbalance.com/word/download/index.htm#LetterheadTextboxesAndStylesTutorial

Template Basics
http://www.addbalance.com/usersguide/templates.htm

How to Create a Template - Part 2 - essential reading
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CreateATemplatePart2.htm

Word "Forms"
http://www.addbalance.com/word/wordwebresources.htm#Forms and

Word for Word Perfect Users
http://www.addbalance.com/word/wordperfect.htm if you are coming from a WP
environment (or even if you are not).

 

[Guest]

Hi Greg,

I did try to record the steps in a macro to open the
template. Problem is, I can't get the recorded macro to
record the selection I make from the user interface and
then place the info in the designated cell. The recorded
macro will only record as far as calling up the template
and it goes no farther.

Thanks,

 

[Guest]

Hi Charles,

This sounds like it might fit our situation. I want to
avoid creating 40 individual templates because it means I
have to update all 40 templates every time our letterhead
changes instead of just one template. But if the
customized templates incorporate a base templates which
contains the "variable" or changeable information, that
might do it.

Thanks,

 

[Guest]

Hi Suzanne,

If I am understanding you correctly, we do already have a
UserForm that allows users to select from a list of
attorneys, and then places the information for the
selected attorney into the designated cell.

The problem is, the secretaries don't want to have to go
through the UserForm each time they create a letterhead.
They want a button they can click that calls up the
letterhead already personalized for them. That is, they
want a macro that does the following for them: File -
New - Letterhead tab - Letterhead template - selects their
attorney. (The macro I created with the template and user
form then places that attorney's info into the letterhead.)

Sorry this is so complicated!

Thanks,

 

[Guest]

Hi Jay,

Thanks very much. It would probably be easier for you to
see what is going on by looking at the actual template
itself. I'll try these things out, and then let you know
how it goes!

Many thanks to you and everyone for your helpful
suggestions.

Regards,
Rosemary

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Ah, got you. I think Charles's suggestion of individual templates would suit
you best, then.