Creating a form field to be filled out by a user and populate through out the document

Anonymous
2015-03-01T18:08:02+00:00

I know this is simple but I cannot figure it out.

Working in

|Office 2013

 |Microsoft Office Word

 |Office for Windows 8.1

Please don't reference Greg Massey, I can't understand anything there and his tutorials seem completely out of whack with Word 2013.

I am building a contract where field are repeated several times, (FirstName, LastName, Address, etc.)

I want to create a field in the contract that populated throughout the document with these variable from the first field I population:

I want to enter the information each time from a template directly on the template. When a user would get to the template the first page might have something like this. There they would fill in the variables in italics

This contract is for FirstName LastName at ThisAddress, ThisCity, ThisZipCode

Static content continues here.  Static content continues here.  Static content continues here.  Static content continues here.  Static content continues here.  Static content continues here.  Static content continues here. 

Static content continues here.  Static content continues here.  Static content continues here.  Static content continues here.  Static content continues here.  Static content continues here. 

Then one of the variable above is needed again.  If it was entered above, it would automatically populate the fields filled in above.

FirstName LastName promises to pay $1 for services.

All Service are performed in ZipCode

I know you can do this with bookmarks, but when I did that, and then wanted to CHANGE the variable to make a contract with another person, I had to recreate the bookmark and all referenced fields on the whole thing from an original bookmark again.  I want to make this once, and the use just enters the basic information one time and it autopopulates the rest of the doc.

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Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2015-03-02T05:53:50+00:00

It is NOT to the default text that you create the cross reference, but to the bookmark that is assigned to the FormField.  

It is a good idea to assign a meaningful bookmark name to the formfield and in the example below, I have used TenantName as the bookmark as well as setting that as the default text.   Note that I have also checked the Calculate on Exit box

Then, after setting cross references to the Text of the Bookmark and Protecting the document for Filling in Forms, when I enter "Bill Smith" into the FormField

and then press the tab key, this will be the result

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John Korchok 236.2K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2015-03-02T14:44:28+00:00

Hi Davyd,

Legacy Form Fields will not relay the information until you protect the document for Filling in forms.

  1. Developer>Restrict Editing
  2. Editing Restrictions>Check Allow only this type of editing in the document.
  3. Set the dropdown to Filling in forms
  4. Click on Yes, Start Enforcing Protection
  5. Save your document.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-03-01T20:27:57+00:00

    Suzanne, I was trying to use the Content Controls, but I can use legacy.  I just thought the newere controls would have something easier.

    So I just put a text field from legacy and then I inserted a REEF from Quick Parts.  Assigned it the Text Field I created.  That worked.  But I cannot change the original text field and have it populate the REF correctly.

    I know this is not hard and sorry I am such a noob.  But I cannot believe I am not missing something incredibly simple here.

    Here is what it looks like when I add the option for Show Field Codes

    Book mark  {FORMTEXT}

    Tenant Name:  { REF TenantName }

    Should it be something other than the FORMTEXT control?

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-03-01T20:21:51+00:00

    John, thanks for the reply.

    Well you got me excited there for a minute.  I do have the developer tab. So I created content control with plain text, but when I Select the content control and try to insert a bookmark, The bookmark button is grayed out.  So I could not get that done.   Maybe I am misunderstanding what I am supposed to do.

    I have created a book mark and then successfully populated the additional fields.  But then I cann not change the value of the original bookmark, which is my real challenge.  Am I missing something with Content Control field?

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  3. John Korchok 236.2K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-03-01T19:35:52+00:00

    Here is a convenient way to solve this. Since you are already familiar with form fields, I am assuming you already have the Developer tab enabled and are familiar with that tab:

    1. For each piece of information you want filled in, insert a content control.
    2. Select the content control and insert a bookmark.
    3. Create Ref fields where you need the bookmarked information to show.
    4. Go to View>Restrict Editing
    5. Set Editing Restrictions to  No changes (Read only).
    6. Select a content control and under Exceptions check the Everyone box.
    7. Finally, click on Yes, Start Enforcing Protection.

    Bookmarks attached to a content control do not get erased even when the content control is edited.

    There are a couple of other ways to solve this, but this is the simplest.

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