Thanks, Pat, no I haven't. I have not worked with the auto text feature before. I just checked it out thanks to your post, and set one up via the instructions in help menu, but once I set up the list title, how do I set up the actual list? Example, I would want a drop down list of buyer names. I can set up the Buyer list, but how do I attach it to a drop down list of buyers? I'll be honest, I'm not very knowledgeable about all the tools & options within Word that would help my situation, so I appreciate your input and would like to know more. I also have approx 6 sites, I would want the user to be able to select the site and it would fill in the appropriate site manager name/phone/address/email, etc. I'm in over my head, mostly! I also considered the clipping manager and smart tags and wanted to be able to set up clippings, say of the forms to attach at the end of the document, if clippings will work in a shared server. That might be something to consider for problem #4, linked documents and selecting only those needed. I welcome any input if you have also had experience in this. Thank you very much, Cathy "Pat Ferguson" <computertips4me4home@h To: <mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> otmail.com> Sent by: cc: mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxx g Subject: [mso] Re: Word 2002: Sections, Header/Footers, 08/17/2004 04:12 PM AutoNumber, Data Collection, Bookmarks, Cross Please respond to mso References & Other User Skill Level Variables . . . Best Format? ..... Don't know if it would work or not, but have you thought about letting them enter a string of text and let auto-text apply what you need in parts? Pat -------Original Message------- From: mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: 08/17/04 14:23:19 To: mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [mso] Re: Word 2002: Sections, Header/Footers, AutoNumber, Data Collection, Bookmarks, Cross References & Other User Skill Level Variables . . . Best Format? Thank you, Ray, I have thought about using those fields many times before, but thought each user would have to fill them out with the right information. How do I get the right information into the fields and how do I gather it? I can handle inserting the fields as needed in the document and determining which fields would hold which information, but I am dumb, dumber and plain hard headed when it comes to knowing how to set up the word document to gather the data without the fill-ins & bookmark solution, which is very clumsy and problem prone. Can you get me started on this? Word is not like access where you can go into a design view, plug in some field names, put some text around the fields, and binga!bang! There is your form (well . . . sometimes it's that easy!). I have even opened templates that others have created that open with a form that seems to collect data and then push it to various places in the document, but something isn't clicking for me, cause when I try to go behind the scenes to see what they did and how to transpose it for my need, there just isn't a light bulb. In access, I can dig around in the code and see what event calls it and it makes logical sense to me, but I give up too easily in Word. Well, that is past tense now . . . this situation has gotten critical so I've got to overcome defeat! Actually until I got these problems into words today to try to get help, I did not realize myself what all the problems were. I was always looking at them as one big mess, rather than breaking them down into smaller bits that could be solved a piece at a time. In fact, I did not realize the reason I was not making progress in automating the access to word process was that in the case of the contract documents, there is no data anywhere to capture or merge, the word document is the first time someone gets down on paper some of the key data. So I was getting alot of resistance to getting the users to go into Access first, complete the data, then push the button for the form. They want to open Word and that's it! I found a template that will collect data in Word and push it to Access, haven't figured out how it works yet, but it lets me know it can be done if needed. I spend a great deal of time smoothing out the below kind of edits before a document goes in the mail, so I'm convinced once the right approach is determined, it will be worth the initial set up time to come up with a good document. I'm on Dian's website today doing some of her form creation instructions, and basically searching everywhere I can to finalize the solution. So, I really appreciate learning how other people approach similar problems. Thank you so much, Cathy "Ray Blake" <ray@xxxxxxxxx> To: <mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent by: mso-bounce@freelist cc: s.org 08/17/2004 01:08 PM Subject: [mso] Re: Word 2002: Sections, Header/Footers, Please respond to AutoNumber, Data Collection, Bookmarks, Cross mso References & Other User Skill Level Variables . . . Best Format? ..... Wow, you've really bitten off a big one there! The only part I can offer any insight around is number 3. I wonder whether you might be better holding this info in the document's custom properties rather than fillin fields. You could have an Auto_Open call to a dialogue which takes them all on one form. Word's not my speciality app, but that's how I'd do it, I think. Ray ------------------------------------ GR Business Process Solutions Ray Blake Head of Software Design ray@xxxxxxxxx Braedon Newell Road Hemel Hempstead Herts HP3 9PD tel: 01442 396518 fax: 01442 389353 www.grbps.com ------------------------------------ -----Original Message----- From: mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Cathy.Evans@xxxxxxxxx Sent: 17 August 2004 16:34 To: mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [mso] Word 2002: Sections, Header/Footers, AutoNumber, Data Collection, Bookmarks, Cross References & Other User Skill Level Variables . . . Best Format? Hi everyone. This is starting as a Word problem, but Word may not be the ultimate solution, and I'll throw this out for any ideas. Will try to group problems, whether anyone can address one or all, any help would be greatly appreciated. I am open to new software ideas, is this a fit for the version of Adobe that creates forms (haven't used it, but willing to learn) or is there a better fit? Or can Word handle this and does anyone have any simple samples, as the visual basic section of word is brand new to me! This is an ongoing problem, but one that I need to resolve in the next few weeks, as major form revisions are coming. Does anyone have similar problems and how do you resolve? Thank you so much, everyone. Cathy Overview: Have a large (100+ page contract document) that has several problems/needs: Situation 1: Document is set up in sections so different headers, footers & numbering can be set up. Problem: Users sometimes delete blocks of text and unknowingly delete section breaks which totally messes up headers, footers & numbering and I am constantly having to fix. Some users know to look for sections and some do not. Need: Way for users to remove document parts without deleting section breaks. Hard setting up protections for sections, as the users need to edit many of the sections, each contract has different editing needs. Situation 2: Document has many multi-level/customized numbering sections. Problem: If users do not know how to indent to get number level desired, or to shift/enter to get the next line without getting new number, awful things happen and they often remove the auto number in the paragraph they are editing, then set up manual numbers, and I have seen many weird combinations of customized numbers where it seems like they go to each section and set the next level to a certain number and if you delete a numbered line . . . trouble. Need: Too many diverse & remote users to train in using numbering, need to find a better way. Situation 3: I have many fill-in/ask fields that pop up when the user first opens the document, then those results are populated in different areas of document via bookmark crossreferences. Problem: If user deletes original bookmark, the cross reference gives 'reference source not found!' error. Wanting to eventually convert these to forms that would be populated once a user enters data in access, but can't get the users to go to access first, and there is no data source, as this is the first time the data will be captured anywhere. If they accidentally delete a bookmark referencing something that goes in a table of contents, trouble there, too! Need: More stable data collection/populating data idea/method. Situation 4: This document has a section in the back devoted to the numerous forms that go with the contract. These forms are often updated, and also a user might not use a form for that particular contract, so they delete it. Problem: Same delete section/header/footer problem as above, it can really mess up headers/footers if user doesn't look for section breaks. Latest revision of forms not in document. I used to have them linked so the updates would pass to the forms, but this confused users so much I removed the links and just put in the form itself. Need: Ideally, list of documents that users could put a checkmark against the ones they needed for that contract, then it would either just print the most current version of that document, or bring itinto the document at the end with proper header/footer. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. If you are not the intended recipient of this message you are hereby notified that any use, review, retransmission, dissemination, distribution, reproduction or any action taken in reliance upon this message is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. 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