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.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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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. John Korchok 236.2K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-03-02T00:26:55+00:00

    Hi, I'm very sorry to cause you confusion. You're 99% of the way there.

    We began by discussing Content Controls. For them, you need to use No changes (Read only) when protecting the form. 

    Later, when it became clear that it was important to be able to update the fields, I included Form Fields in the discussion. When you use form fields, you must use Filling in forms as the protection method.

    As Doug points out in his reply, you can avoid the macros and instead check the property in each form field to Calculate on exit and it will have the same effect of updating the fields.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-03-02T00:29:32+00:00

    Thanks Doug, But still doesn't address the issue I am having.

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  3. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-03-02T00:51:31+00:00

    After inserting the form field, click on Properties in the Controls group on the Developer tab. There you will see the built-in bookmark for that field. By default, the bookmark for the first text form field will be Text1, but you can change it to anything you want. Be sure to check the box for "Calculate on exit" so the REF field will update automatically.

    Then, where you want to repeat the data entered, use a cross-reference to the bookmark (REF Text 1). As others have said, the document will have to be protected for filling in forms, but since most of the rest of the document appears to be static text, this will not be an issue.

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