Word Forms & Protection

[WindKnot]

Former XP/Word2003 user converting to Vista/Word2007. I finally located the
"forms toolbox" and am now trying to get through the protection features.
When designing a form in 2003, protection could be enabled and disabled
without losing data previously input. I find in 2007, each time protection
is enabled, all prior entries are erased. Is there a solution for this?

On the topic of Forms. Is there a drop down or similar field/feature in
Word2007 that will allow user input vs. only the selections provided by the
designer?

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

I cannot replicate that problem.

However, if you use a macro containing the following code to re-apply the
protection, you will not have the problem

ActiveDocument.Protect wdAllowOnlyFormFields, NoReset

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[WindKnot]

Many thanks for the response! Perhaps this will shed additional light on the
issue. One of the first things I did after discovering the "Ribbon" in 2007
was to add several of the most used features to it. One was the "green"
Protection button vs. going through the "Protect Document" icon each time. I
can unprotect the form with the button without losing data but as soon as I
reprotect, all of the fields clear. I was under the impression that this
button was the equivilent of the 2003 enable/disable Protection icon but
apparently not.

Are you aware of the differences between the green protect/unprotect
shortcut button and the full protect document icon? Apparently, your fields
are not clearing out using the full icon. Are you checking the "Forms"
button on the full menu?

Also, while I am aware of macros and used them in Lotus (dating myself), I
have only perused a VBA book at Borders but have not attempted to write or
incorporate a macro into any worksheets. Part of the reason was I could
never locate a way to "record" my actions. I see that 2007 has a "Record
Macro" feature that may solve this problem but I still have to get up and
running on VBA. Although it's been 22 years since I took a Basic programming
class, I still remember most of the fundamentals.

Also, are you aware of a drop down box the type of which I described?

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Add the other Protect button that looks like a page with a padlock on it to
the QAT. It does not cause the formfields to be reset.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[WindKnot]

Thank you! This works. Still not as clean as 2003 but will have to do.

Doug, I'm confused regarding your last comment. I thought this post was to
the newsgroup. The question was posted in what I thought was the Word
Community section most similar to the problem encountered. Am I incorrect in
that assumption? Should this and all questions be posted to the top tier vs.
a sublevel?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Doug's "last comment" is part of his signature, which is appended to every
message.

 

[WindKnot]

I came to realize that after I responded to Doug. Perhaps I should change my
signature to "The only thing advancing faster than my age is technology!"

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You might also want to figure out why your signature has '''' instead of an
apostrophe.

 

[WindKnot]

That appears to be a technological anomoly as the profile only has one '.
It'll be interesting if this response duplicates the ' as well.

 

[WindKnot]

Testing

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You're down to two apostrophes now.

 

[WindKnot]

Good morning to all in the land of the Crimson Tide! You must either be a
writer, English major or just plain courageous. Very few would risk sending
an email containing the word "apostrophe" without spell check!

I changed that profile five times most recently yesterday evening (the
reason for the "Test") and it continues to pick up the apostrophes as
quotation marks. Tried to do a screen print as a FYI but the thread will not
permit a paste (tried both the snipping tool and OneNote).

I just seem to have a knack of bringing out the best that software has to
offer. Now watch it go through as an apostrophe!

Just for giggles, try placing an apostrophe in your own profile and see if
the problem replicates. By the way, I knew a Barnhill family in downstate
Illinois. Any relation?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I'm a copy editor. And it's not a quotation mark; it's two apostrophes. You
can ascertain this by clicking in the text and using the arrow keys to go
left or right.

I use an NNTP newsreader (Outlook Express) rather than the Web portal, so I
haven't added a signature to my profile (AFAIR).

We're basically not related to any other living Barnhills; my husband was an
only child, and his late father was an only son. There are a lot of other
Barnhills in Baldwin County (one immigrant here had seven sons and three
daughters), but the best we can figure is that if we're related, it's back
in Scotland before they all came here in the early nineteenth century.

 

[Barbara]

This did not help me at all. First, I can't find a Green Protect button. I
did find the page with a padlock. However, it says my form is unlocked but it
isn't. I can't edit it at all. I have a lot of forms like this and have to be
able to edit them. This is very frustrating in 2007!