Build a better mousetrap

[lots of questions]

First off - my thanks to Jonathan West and Charles Kenyon
for their reply to my earlier question.

Now this may be a hard one because it's objective...

I work in an extremely "form" dominated environment. Many
of the forms I am currently working on are what I
call "form sets", they are actually a single file
comprised of multiple/different forms. The users want to
be able to create multiple pages between each of the
individual forms....this I can do but the results are not
always reliable. Doing this in a word document is
difficult enough without adding section protection to the
equation, however, Word has no feature which allows you
to "Append" a "template" between pages or at the end of
the file. Is there another way to create this document,
either thru links or whatever, that will give the
continuity of each form without placing each one in the
same file??? Love to hear from someone on this one! Best
regards....

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Would AutoText help? This could be inserted into unprotected sections of a
document that is otherwise protected for forms. While it wouldn't be a
template, it could be a table that is simple to fill in. This could stretch
across pages between protected sections.

I appreciate the thank you even though I no longer remember your original
question.

 

[Chuck]

How about using master/sub documents? You could mix and match collections
subdocuments to create your collections of forms...

 

[David]

... The users want to
be able to create multiple pages between each of the
individual forms....

Could you explain this a little more? Do you mean the pages need to be
sandwiched between a prefilled form at the beginning and end.

I have a document that is usually one page. Occasionally, I need to
append a second and/or third page. I gather the info with a userform
and populate page one with the information. Then I have a option
button on the userform that lets me insert page 2 or 3. It simply
INSERTs A FILE to the end of the document.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

How about using master/sub documents? You could mix and match collections

subdocuments to create your collections of forms...

Uhm, unless the user is extremely disciplined and knows how, I wouldn't
recommend this. I don't use Master Documents. "Master Document" is a term of
art in Word referring to a "feature" that not only doesn't work but also
destroys documents. The consensus (with the limited exception of Steve
Hudson) among those offering advice on these newsgroups is that using the
Master Document feature is a good way to destroy your document. It can
destroy parts of your document that you are not even working on! I think
John McGhie said it succinctly when he said that there are two kinds of
Master Documents: Those that are corrupt and those that will be corrupt
soon. See http://www.addbalance.com/word/masterdocuments.htm for
information on the Master Document feature and workarounds. See
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/WhyMasterDocsCorrupt.htm for more
information on what goes wrong, and
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/General/RecoverMasterDocs.htm for ideas on how
to salvage what you can. See
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/magazine/technical/masterdocs.doc for
Steve Hudson's instructions if you are willing to follow them very
carefully.


news[email protected]...

 

[lots of questions]

David:
You're very close to the mark...
The single file consists of 4-6 stand-alone forms which
contain protected and unprotected sections. The entire is
password protected, locking down the designated sections.

The "unprotected" sections are there for the user to be
able to insert a graphic or photo, or to be able to use
the spell check feature. And - each form may (probably)
have protected and unprotected sections. All of the forms
I design for my company are built on word tables. When
you think of these forms, think government forms with lots
of areas for entering text, explanations, answers, etc.
(very information intensive)

A for instance...

Sheet one in the set is a "standalone" form. Entire form
is protected with "fill-in-the-blanks" form fields (which
is a no brainer, best type of form)

Sheet two is also a "standalone" form, not a continuation
sheet of the prior form. This form has protected sections
with form fields and unprotected sections. The
unprotected sections are tables set to "at least" which
allow the user to enter data which can be spell checked or
a drawing or illustration inserted. The "unprotected"
section will grow in depth depending upon what the user
inserts and how much. This is likely to overset the
page. I have a header-footer built in to accommodate the
overage between this sheet 2 and the next standalone
form. Add to this the fact that many features
which "might" assist in accomplishing this are not
available to the user due to the protection on the
document... (I know - add in a protect-unprotect feature,
which I am gonna work on as soon as I get all this
paperwork off my desk!)

Each subsequent form in the "form set" as I call it, is
set up similarly. It works....but I am wondering whether
there is any other method for integrating "standalone"
forms into one document. I had hopes for getting the
users to try Binder to integrate a complete document, but
the program just doesn't quite get it. PDF files would
work since you can append and insert and delete pages,
however - my company is very large and is not looking at
providing the full-blown Acrobat program to "all"
employees.

You probably should see a sample to really understand what
I need to do, but I realize thats a sharing no-no so hope
I have described the file better....my current method
is "inelegant" at best and its success usually depends
upon the skill and software knowledge of the user. I was
hoping there was a different way of developing or putting
together the file which would be a better mousetrap and
the users would not be so frustrated. Again - my thanks
for any advice and best regards...