Re-enabling User Options

[Becky Carter Hickman-Jones]

I have inherited a couple of global templates that are thick with VBA
programming. I am just starting to learn VBA, but I've seen enough of the
templates' codes to start asking questions.

One of the templates disables a number of user options on startup. Several
of my users have complained about this in the past, and I, too, would like
to change some of this behavior. I have found the place in the code where
this action occurs, and now I'm wondering, if I just delete the line in the
code that references that option, will Word give back control of that option
to the user?

Or, if the code doesn't reference a specific option, does that mean the
unreferenced option can be modified by the user?

I would include a sample of this code, but it's lengthy, and I don't want to
create a mess here. Let me know if I should.

I hope I've been clear enough to elicit a response!

Thanks,
Beck

 

[Doug Robbins]

Try just turning the line of code into a comment by inserting an apostrophe
in front of it. That way, if the command is required for some other
purpose, all you have to do is remove the apostrophe to reinstate it.

If you are not sure, it's quite OK to copy and paste the code into a message
that you post back here. It's attachments that are frowned upon.

--
Please respond to the Newsgroup for the benefit of others who may be
interested. Questions sent directly to me will only be answered on a paid
consulting basis.

Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Pete Bennett]

Becky,

Yes, you're correct, if user options havent been set as part of your
templates startup procedure, then they will retain what the use set the last
time they used Word. Even if the options have been set using VBA, the use
can still set them to how they want after Word has finished loading (unless
of course the menu items have been taken away from them).

Even though you can comment out the lines of code that are causing your
users headaches, those settings may have been retained by either settings in
the Windows Registry or Normal.Dot. In that case, users are left to set up
Word how they would like.

However, from a Support Desk point of view, there are benefits from setting
up some of the options so that users are working in the same way. It's worth
thinking about at least.

Pete.

 

[Becky Carter Hickman-Jones]

Peter,

Yes, this "Support Desk" perspective is what initially drove the use of a
macro to set Word's options, well that and a sort of preventative
maintenance when dealing with beginning users of Word. However, the person
who decided how the user should work with Word was a little narrow-minded,
and I would like to open the field a little more. Some of the options I see
restricted I agree with, but some (like disabling the use of smart quotes)
are just not effective. I mean, I could go on and on about what this guy
did, but this isn't a rant forum, I don't think.

Thanks for your help. I'll tinker around a bit before deploying anything
new.

Beck

 

[Pete Bennett]

Becky,

I understand your position and viewpoint on this completely. Sometimes the
only way out of this is to do what's been decided, even if you disagree with
it, but allow the changes to the VBA code to do what /you/ want to do.

I like to call it "rope" code. I'm sure you can figure out why!

Pete