form drop-down menu conditional formatting

[M John]

Hello,
I've seen a number of conditional formatting questions for Word, but I
haven't come across one with as many options as I'm trying to incorporate.

Below is the list of options in the dropdown menu:
Unrated
Exceptional
Acceptable
Marginal
Unacceptable
Details not provided

Below is the way in which I would like the text conditionally formatted:
Unrated - normal font and highlight
Exceptional - white font, blue highlight
Acceptable - automatic font, green highlight
Marginal - automatic font, green highlight
Unacceptable - white font, red highlight
Details not provided - white font, black highlight

If you can point me in the right direction, I can probably piece together
the macro code, but right now, I'm not sure where to start.

Word version details - 2002 SP3

Many thanks,
MJohn

 

[Shauna Kelly]

Hi MJohn

Conditional formatting is a feature of Excel. The conditional formatting
might depend on, say, the value in cell A1. When that value changes, the
formatting will automatically change. There's nothing like that available in
Word.

For your purposes, I would create 6 styles. If you just want to format a
word or two, create character styles. If you're formatting a whole
paragraph, create paragraph styles. Base each one on whatever style you're
using for the body text in the document. You can give them names like
"Unrated" and "Exceptional". Modify the styles to have the format you need.
Then, when the user chooses an item on the menu, apply the relevant style.

There are some minor caveats in applying styles. Eg if you're applying the
style to the currently-selected text, you might like to apply it to the
whole paragraph. And beware of issues if the user has selected a floating
object like a floating picture. If you get stuck trying to apply the
relevant style, post back here.

These might also help:
How to modify styles in Microsoft Word
http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/styles/ModifyAStyle.html

How styles in Microsoft Word cascade
http://www.ShaunaKelly.com/word/styles/HowStylesCascade.html

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word