[mso] Re: Word Forms ?

Yes, this is the way they work...because you're not supposed to be opening a
form. The point of a form is to NOT allow the user access to the boilerplate
text. 
Part of your problems is that you're using an old version of Word...probably
2000 or, worse, 97. In those version, you still had to use VBA code to allow
open/close access to the form fields. The REASON the fields "blank out" is
so a developer of a form wouldn't leave data in a final version after
testing. 

Say you're testing and filling in the fields. When you finalize it, you'd
want to make sure all the data was cleared...or YOU would have to go through
and remove the info if you made the mistake of testing with the original
template...which most newbies do.

But due to cries from newbies who didn't get it, MS did change that starting
in XP. In XP and 03, the fields no longer erase when you relock. Devs must
now click the eraser to clear the forms. I used to hate this fact as a long
time form dev...but over the years with XP and 03...I've gotten used to it
and see the value to those who are new to forms. So if you use a newer
version of Word...you won't experience that issue any longer. Otherwise you
have to relock the form with VBA code and the NORESET argument.

The copy/paste problem is also an issue that is long gone in newer versions.
In 2000, it was nearly impossible to select a part of the text within a
field. But that, too, was corrected in later version and now it's not an
issue. 

To remove the fields without notepad, you'll have to learn to write program
code or find yourself someone like me who does this stuff for a living as a
consultant (see www.mousetrax.com/consulting for info).

But if you want to learn VBA...or see if you can find someone who can post
you code...you might want to check out and post your issue in my Word_VBA
group where we specialize in these issues. Sorry I don't have time to write
code, but you might get lucky and find someone who knows/has some code to
help you out. See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Word_VBA/.

Good luck! 


Dian D. Chapman
Technical Consultant, Instructor
Microsoft MVP & MOS Expert Certified

Free MS Tutorials: www.mousetrax.com/techtrax
Free Word Tips & Tricks eBook: www.mousetrax.com/books.html
Learn VBA the easy way, thru video! www.mousetrax.com/techcourses.html


-----Original Message-----
From: mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Jim
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 6:42 AM
To: mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [mso] Re: Word Forms ?

Hi Dian

I know the password, I made the form.

I don't want to go back to a notepad thou, while th eform is probbaly fairly
basic, it has a few tables, retrieving that layout after pasting into
notepad would be for all practical purposes impossible.

I had no idea that editing would be so hard inside a field, this is the 1st
time I ever used forms, and at this rate, probably the last.

We also noticed that if we unlock the form with data in the fields, then
lock it, the data disappears, we end up with blank fields, is this really
the way it's suppossed to work or is that a 2k bug/feature?

-Jim-


Dian Chapman wrote:

>Can you unprotect the form? If it's not passworded with a password you 
>don't know, then you can click Tools > Unprotect Document. If you can, 
>do that and then hit Ctrl + A to SELECT ALL. Once selected, hit Ctrl + 
>C to copy it and click Start > Run and type NOTEPAD to open the text 
>editor. Hit ctrl + V to paste the text into notepad. This will take all 
>the text, yet remove the form fields. You can then paste it back into 
>Word and apply fonts/styles as needed.
>The other way would involve some code. So this is simpler.
>
>Hope this helps.
>
>BTW...if you want to learn more about forms, see the many tutorials on 
>my site at: www.mousetrax.com/techpage.html#autoforms.
>
>
>Dian D. Chapman
>Technical Consultant, Instructor
>Microsoft MVP & MOS Expert Certified
>
>Free MS Tutorials: www.mousetrax.com/techtrax Free Word Tips & Tricks 
>eBook: www.mousetrax.com/books.html Learn VBA the easy way, thru video! 
>www.mousetrax.com/techcourses.html
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
>Behalf Of Jim
>Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2004 10:09 PM
>To: mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [mso] Word Forms ?
>
>I got some word documents created in form mode, data has been entered 
>in the form fields, now I would like to remove the form fields but retain
the data.
>Is there an easy way to do this short of re-typing all the data?
>
>We have found that the data entered in the fields is almost impossible 
>to edit, cut & past doesn't work within the field, cut & paste the 
>whole field is what happens which is useless, so at this point we just 
>want to remove the fields and essentially change it from a FORM to just 
>a document but not loose the data that was in the fields.
>
>Thanks
>-Jim-
>
>
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