fields and underlines

[j lunis]

I have spent a lot of the morning researching and playing with a form
and can't find the answer.
I want to have a line similar to
NAME: __________________________________________
with the underline at a fixed length when printed.
On the underline I want a field that can be of varying length (but not
longer than the underline.
I can get the fixed length underline and I can get the filed but I can
find no way to get both.

 

[Jay Freedman]

I have spent a lot of the morning researching and playing with a form
and can't find the answer.
I want to have a line similar to
NAME: __________________________________________
with the underline at a fixed length when printed.
On the underline I want a field that can be of varying length (but not
longer than the underline.
I can get the fixed length underline and I can get the filed but I can
find no way to get both.

See http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/LinesInForms.htm

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[macropod]

Hi j lunis,

Simple: Add a right-aligned tab after the field, with the tab-stop positioned wherever you want the underlining to stop, then
underline both the tab and the field.

 

[j lunis]

See http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/LinesInForms.htm

Very good. Thanks to you and macropod. One hurdle. The instructions
state "the width can be adjusted by dragging the paragraph's left and/or
right indent markers." Using my example above, moving the indent marker
results in the whole line moving, thus
NAME: _______________________________________ becomes
NAME: __________________________________________
the 'name' text moves along with the indent. What am I missing?

 

[Jay Freedman]

Very good. Thanks to you and macropod. One hurdle. The instructions
state "the width can be adjusted by dragging the paragraph's left
and/or right indent markers." Using my example above, moving the
indent marker results in the whole line moving, thus
NAME: _______________________________________ becomes
NAME: __________________________________________
the 'name' text moves along with the indent. What am I missing?

The comment about the indent markers applies only to lines created with
paragraph borders, not to any other kind of line. If you have any text
before or after the line, you obviously aren't using a paragraph border.

The article describes four other methods of making lines. I'll guess that
you used method 4 or 5, involving tabs. In that case, adjust the line length
by moving the tab stop markers on the ruler.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Much the easiest way is to put the field in a table cell and apply a bottom
border to the cell.

 

[j lunis]

The comment about the indent markers applies only to lines created with
paragraph borders, not to any other kind of line. If you have any text
before or after the line, you obviously aren't using a paragraph border.

The article describes four other methods of making lines. I'll guess that
you used method 4 or 5, involving tabs. In that case, adjust the line length
by moving the tab stop markers on the ruler.

You are correct. I suspect one problem is I don't know what a 'tab stop
marker' is. I see the margin ruler but that's it.

 

[Jay Freedman]

You are correct. I suspect one problem is I don't know what a 'tab
stop marker' is. I see the margin ruler but that's it.

Tab stop markers are marks that appear on the ruler when you set tab stops
(seems a little obvious), either by clicking on the ruler or by using the
Format > Tabs dialog. There are several shapes: a thick L shape for a
left-aligned tab, a backwards L for a right-aligned tab, and an upside-down
T for a center-aligned tab (plus a few less common variants).

Read http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/SettingTabs.htm for
explanations.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[j lunis]

Much the easiest way is to put the field in a table cell and apply a bottom
border to the cell.

Very good. Forms seem to be working well.
This may not strictly be a 'tables' question, but once I have saved a
form as *.dot,is there a fast way to restart a form?
For example, if I ha half-way through filling out a form and want to
start over, only way I can find to do it is FILE>CLOSE followed by
FILE>OPEN>1. Any single key (or combination, CTRL-O)) for 'do-over?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You mean to reset the form? Depending on version, you may be able to reset
it by unprotecting and reprotecting, but in recent versions you have to do
this through the Tools menu, as the button on the Forms toolbar doesn't
reset the form. And of course if the form is password-protected, you
wouldn't be able to unprotect it.

There's undoubtedly a VBA command that could somehow be run. There are
ClearFormField and ResetFormField commands that could be added to a toolbar;
if you could use Ctrl+A to select an entire form, that might work. But I'm
just speculating, as I have almost no practical experience with forms.

 

[j lunis]

You mean to reset the form? Depending on version, you may be able to reset
it by unprotecting and reprotecting, but in recent versions you have to do
this through the Tools menu, as the button on the Forms toolbar doesn't
reset the form. And of course if the form is password-protected, you
wouldn't be able to unprotect it.

There's undoubtedly a VBA command that could somehow be run. There are
ClearFormField and ResetFormField commands that could be added to a toolbar;
if you could use Ctrl+A to select an entire form, that might work. But I'm
just speculating, as I have almost no practical experience with forms.

ClearFormField and/or ResetFormField sound like what I want - remove any
entries made to all fields in a form and start over without
closing/opening or unprotecting/protecting.
Surprisingly few hits when searching for these commands. Where do I
learn to use them in Word 2000?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you go to Tools | Customize, they're in the list for All Commands, which
means they can be added to a toolbar or assigned a keyboard shortcut
(they're in that list as well). But I have no idea whether they'd work in a
protected form.

 

[j lunis]

Suzanne,
thanks for the help.
ClearFormField/ResetFormField do not appear in Tools>Customize or
KIeyboard Shortcuts. I guess they are not in word2000. I looked in VBE
- not there either. Realy hate having to Close/Open a form just to
clear the fields but, unless you have another idea, looks like I'm stuck.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It may be that in Word 2000 any method of unprotecting and reprotecting will
reset the form (which means you can use the padlock button on the Forms
toolbar). ISTR that the difference was introduced in Word 2002; this is
confirmed by http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/MacrosVBA/TurnFmFlfResetOff.htm,
which tells the opposite of what you want to do, but you might find it
helpful, anyway.