Forms Fields not active for users

I have created a Word 2003 form that uses a combination of ActiveX
checkboxes and ActiveX radio buttons as form elements. I make sure to leave
Design View, then Protect the document, usually by using Tools > Protect
Document and selecting Filling in forms as the Editing Restriction.

The problem is that when I reopen the document, first I get teh stupid "open
as read-only" prompt which I know my end users might also see, but worse,
none of the form elements respond to clicks so the values cannot get set. I
am not sure what I am doing wrong, since when I leave Design Mode and
Protect the document before I close Word on my machine everything works
great.

Any suggestions. I wish Word had a radio button Form element so I did not
have to use the ActiveX controls...I think it would make this much easier.

Devin

Suzanne
Thu Apr 20 17:28:06 CDT 2006

ActiveX controls and forms protection are not compatible.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
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"Devin Rader [IG]" <devinr@nospam.infragistics.com> wrote in message
news:%234e1FeMZGHA.508@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
> I have created a Word 2003 form that uses a combination of ActiveX
> checkboxes and ActiveX radio buttons as form elements. I make sure to
leave
> Design View, then Protect the document, usually by using Tools > Protect
> Document and selecting Filling in forms as the Editing Restriction.
>
> The problem is that when I reopen the document, first I get teh stupid
"open
> as read-only" prompt which I know my end users might also see, but worse,
> none of the form elements respond to clicks so the values cannot get set.
I
> am not sure what I am doing wrong, since when I leave Design Mode and
> Protect the document before I close Word on my machine everything works
> great.
>
> Any suggestions. I wish Word had a radio button Form element so I did not
> have to use the ActiveX controls...I think it would make this much easier.
>
> Devin
>
>

Charles
Fri Apr 21 09:55:48 CDT 2006

Don't use ActiveX controls in protected forms. They won't work, while those
from the Forms toolbar will.

What you are talking about is what Word calls an "online form." Check this
in help. For more about online forms, follow the links at
http://addbalance.com/word/wordwebresources.htm#Forms or
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/FillinTheBlanks.htm especially Dian
Chapman's series of articles. You'll find that it is possible to get
checkboxes to act like radio buttons - even if they don't look like them.

Hope this helps,
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/ which is awesome!

My criminal defense site: http://addbalance.com
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"Devin Rader [IG]" <devinr@nospam.infragistics.com> wrote in message
news:%234e1FeMZGHA.508@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>I have created a Word 2003 form that uses a combination of ActiveX
>checkboxes and ActiveX radio buttons as form elements. I make sure to
>leave Design View, then Protect the document, usually by using Tools >
>Protect Document and selecting Filling in forms as the Editing Restriction.
>
> The problem is that when I reopen the document, first I get teh stupid
> "open as read-only" prompt which I know my end users might also see, but
> worse, none of the form elements respond to clicks so the values cannot
> get set. I am not sure what I am doing wrong, since when I leave Design
> Mode and Protect the document before I close Word on my machine everything
> works great.
>
> Any suggestions. I wish Word had a radio button Form element so I did not
> have to use the ActiveX controls...I think it would make this much easier.
>
> Devin
>