Author Archives: wordknowhow

How to add radio buttons (option buttons) in MS Word

 

Radio button can be used in a Form to capture user’s feedback. Following is a simple example that shows the usage of a radio button also known as Option button.

radion button example

  1. On the Word Ribbon, under the tab Developer, within the group Controls, click the Legacy Tools icon. A drop-down list appears.
  2. From the drop-down list, under the section ActiveX Controls, click the icon Option Button (ActiveX Control). Word creates something like the following.

radio button

  1. By default, the radio button appears in Design Mode. Click the Design Mode option available within group Controls to switch to normal mode, so that the radio button becomes clickable.
  2. To change the caption of the radio button,
  3. Click the radio button and then click Design Mode from the Controls group.
  4. Right-click the radio button and click option Properties from the right-click menu.
  5. On the Properties sheet, under the tab Alphabetic, look for the row with the heading Caption. On the adjacent cell of Caption, double-click to delete the default caption i.e. OptionButton 1 and enter a new caption. Alternatively, you can delete the default caption to retain only radio button. Later, you can resize the button by dragging the resize handles.

 

The next challenge is to group the radio buttons under different sections.

This is important for each group of buttons to behave independently. Otherwise, all the buttons in the document would behave as one group (by default) and only one feedback could be captured.

For example, in the above example form, each question contains two radio buttons (Yes/No) to capture feedback. Each pair of buttons must be grouped to capture feedback for individual question.

To group radio buttons

    1. Switch to design mode by selecting the radio button and then clicking the Design Mode option from within the group Controls.
    2. Once you are in Design Mode, right-click the radio button and select option Properties from the right-click menu. The Properties sheet appears.
    3. On the Properties sheet, under the tab Alphabetic, look for the row with the heading GroupName. Click the adjacent cell to enter a group name.
    4. Now you need to keep the same group name for the rest of the radio buttons, which you want to keep as one group. You are done.

Note: Before you share a document containing Radio button or any other controls, you should to protect your document to prevent editing of the document. To know how to protect a document, read the following articles:

https://wordknowhow.wordpress.com/2013/06/25/how-to-insert-text-fields-check-boxes-drop-down-lists-etc-in-a-word-document-to-create-a-form/

 

https://wordknowhow.wordpress.com/2014/04/03/how-to-create-or-add-checkboxes-checkbox-controls-to-your-word-document/

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to add checkboxes (checkbox controls) in a Word document to create a Form

 

You may need to add check boxes in your Word document mainly for two reasons:

1)     To create an electronic Form containing clickable checkboxes, which can be used to capture user feedback (like a survey); see the following example:

survey

 

2)     To create a printable checklist, containing a checkbox against each item in the document. See the following example:

checklist

 

Adding checkbox controls to create a electronic Form (Word 2007)

You can find the checkbox control on the Developer tab of the Ribbon menu.

Note: If you could not see the Developer tab on the Ribbon, you may need to enable it from Word Options. Read the following article to know how to enable it.

https://wordknowhow.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/how-to-enable-the-developer-tab-in-word/

 

  1. On the Ribbon, under the tab Developer, within the group Controls, click the icon Legacy Tools. A drop-down list appears, which contains two sections: Legacy Forms and ActiveX Controls. See below.

legacy tool icon

Legacy tool drop down

 

ActiveX Control checkbox

  1. Both the sections have check box controls. If you choose to use the checkbox control available under ActiveX Controls section, click the Checkbox (ActiveX Control) icon. Word creates something like the following. Notice that the control is in Design Mode. Design Mode option is activated within the group Controls.

ActiveX Checkbox control

If you deactivate the design mode, the  checkbox becomes clickable and you can use it to create a Form.

i.    Right-click the checkbox control and select option Properties from the right-click menu.

ii.    On the Properties sheet, under the tab Alphabetic, against the row Caption, enter a caption for the checkbox. Alternatively, you can delete the default caption to retain only the checkbox. You can even insert a picture instead by clicking the row named Picture from the Properties sheet.

Note: The ActiveX Control checkbox provides extended features as compared to the Legacy checkbox.

iii.    You may find it difficult to format ActiveX checkbox controls if you are not in Design Mode. Switch to design mode by clicking the control. Now, place mouse cursor in front of the control and then use the TAB key to move it horizontally, SHIFT+TAB to move it in the opposite direction, press ENTER key to move it a step down, and press the Backspace key to bring it a level up.

Note: You can easily delete, resize, etc. in Design Mode.

 

Legacy check box

  1. If you choose to use a legacy checkbox, click the check box icon under the section Legacy Forms from the Legacy Tools drop-down list. Word creates a shaded square box, which is unchecked by default. Double-click the box to open the Check Box Form Field Options window. Here, you can control the checkbox size, default value, etc.

Note: Interestingly, the legacy check boxes cannot be used readily until you apply protection to your document. By default, Word adds a shaded checkbox. If you wish you can remove the shading by simply clicking the Form Field Shading icon available under the Legacy Tools list. See below image.

 

Apply protection to your document

i.    To apply protection to your document, under the tab Developer, within the group Protect, click Protect Document. From the drop-down menu, click option Restrict Formatting and Editing.

ii.    On the Restrict Formatting and Editing pane, under the section Editing Restriction, enable option “Allow only this type of editing in the document” and then select the option “Filling in forms” from the list box.

iii.    Now, under the section Start Enforcement, click the button Yes, Start Enforcing Protection. The Start Enforcing Protection dialog box appears, where  you need to set a password to protect your document.

Once protection is  enforced, you can select/deselect the check box. Remember that you cannot edit a protected document. Therefore, apply protection only after you are done with formatting the document. You can unprotect a document by clicking the Stop Protection button available at the bottom of the Restrict Formatting and Editing pane.

 

Creating a printable check list

It is easy to add checkboxes to a document to create a printable checklist document. There are many ways you can create check boxes in a word document.

Method 1: On the Word Ribbon menu, under the tab Developer, within the group Controls, click the Legacy Tools icon. From drop-down list, under the section Legacy Forms, click the Check Box Form Field icon. Word inserts a shaded check box. Click the Form Field Shading icon to  remove shading around the checkbox. Now, you can copy and paste the same to create multiple checkboxes in your document.

Method 2: On the Word Ribbon menu, under the tab Insert, within the group Illustrations, click icon Shapes. From the drop-down list, click the shape Rectangle. Change its dimensions  to make it a perfect square. Copy and paste the same to create multiple checkboxes.

Method 3: On the Word Ribbon menu, under the tab Insert, within the group Symbols, click icon Symbol. From bottom of the drop-down list, select option More Symbols. From the Symbols window, select a square shape and then click Insert. Word inserts a square at the cursor position.

 

 

How to add a text field in Word

How to add a Legacy Text field in Word?

Step 1:

On the Word Ribbon, under tab Developer, click icon Legacy Tools (or press ALT+ L, N). A drop-down menu appears.

Step 2:

From the drop-down menu, under section Legacy Form, click the Text Form Field icon (or press ALT+L, N, E). Word creates a shaded text field at the cursor position.

Step3:

You can change the properties of the text field in the design mode. To switch to design mode, click the Design Mode icon (or press ALT+L, DM).

Step 4:

Double-click the text field in the document. Word displays the Words Form Field Options dialog box, where you can select the text field Type (regular text, number, date, current date, etc.), maximum length of the field, etc. Then click OK.

Step 5:

Protect the document: To be able enter data in the legacy text field, you need to protect the Word document. To protect a document, follow the steps stated below:

  1. Under the Developer tab, click icon Protect Document under the group Protect. A drop-down menu appears.
  2. Select option Restrict Formatting and Editing from drop-down. A pane appears on the right hand side.
  3. On the pane under the heading Editing Restrictions, select the checkbox (Allow only this type of editing in the document) and select option Filling in Forms from the drop-down list below.
  4. Click button Yes, Start Enforcing Protection.
  5. Set a password. You are ready to use the text field.

Note: Please note that the button Yes, Start Enforcing Protection will not be activated unless you disable the Design Mode option.

 

How to add an ActiveX control Text field in Word?

Step 1:

On the Word Ribbon, under tab Developer, click icon Legacy Tools (or press ALT+ L, N). A drop-down menu appears.

Step 2:

From drop-down menu, under section ActiveX Controls, click the Text Box (ActiveX Control) icon (or press ALT+L, N, T). Word creates a text box field at the cursor position. By default, the text box is opened in the design mode.

Step 4:

To change the properties of the text box, select the text box and then click Properties (ALT+L, L). The Properties sheet appears. Here, you can edit properties such as MaxLength, Caption, Font, etc.

To be able to enter data in the text box, you have to disable the Design Mode (ALT+L, DM)

Protect the document:

Finally, you need to protect the document before you publish the document to capture information using the text box fields. To protect the document:

  1. Under the Developer tab, click icon Protect Document under the group Protect. A drop-down menu appears.
  2. Select option Restrict Formatting and Editing from drop-down. A pane appears on the right hand side.
  3. On the pane under the heading Editing Restrictions, select the checkbox (Allow only this type of editing in the document) and select option Filling in Forms from the drop-down list below.
  4. Click button Yes, Start Enforcing Protection.

Note: Please note that the button Yes, Start Enforcing Protection would not be activated unless you disable the Design Mode (or press ALT+L, DM)

 

 Also see:

https://wordknowhow.wordpress.com/2013/06/25/how-to-insert-text-fields-check-boxes-drop-down-lists-etc-in-a-word-document-to-create-a-form/

https://wordknowhow.wordpress.com/2014/04/03/how-to-create-or-add-checkboxes-checkbox-controls-to-your-word-document/

https://wordknowhow.wordpress.com/2014/04/03/how-to-create-radio-buttons-option-buttons-in-ms-word/

 

 

How to enable the Developer tab in Word?

The Developer tab needs to be enabled in the Ribbon if you want to use the ActiveX controls, record Macros, code in Visual Basic, write XML commands, run macros, enforce document protection, etc. in Word. By default, the Developer tab is not made available in the Ribbon. You can enable it from Word Options.

In Word 2007

  1. Click the Office button and then click the Word Options button from the bottom of the drop-down list. The Word Options dialog box appears.
  2. From the Word Options dialog box, click the category Popular from the category list pane on the left hand side.
  3. On the right hand side, under the section heading “Top options for working with Word section”, select the check box for the option “Show developer tab in the ribbon”.
  4. Click OK.

In Word 2010

  1. Click the File tab. A drop-down list appears.
  2. From the drop-down list, click Options. The Word Options dialog box appears.
  3. On the dialog box, click category Customize Ribbon from the category list.
  4. On the right-hand-side pane, under Main Tabs, select the Developer check box.

 

How to delete an entry from AutoCorrect?

To display the AutoCorrect dialog box, press Alt + T + A or click AutoCorrect from the Quick Access Toolbar. Word displays the AutoCorrect dialog box.

Note: If AutoCorrect is not available in your Quick Access Toolbar, read the following article to add AutoCorrect to your Quick Access Toolbar.

https://wordknowhow.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/how-to-customize-the-quick-access-toolbar-in-word-2007/?preview=true&preview_id=319&preview_nonce=f77d720900&post_format=standard

https://wordknowhow.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/how-to-use-autocorrect-feature-in-word/?preview=true&preview_id=442&preview_nonce=786767bcc8&post_format=standard

On the AutoCorrect dialog box, in the Replace field, type the entry that you want to delete.

Untitled

Select the entry and then click the Delete button. You are done.

Know Document Map in Word

What is a document map?

Document Map comes handy browsing large documents in Word. The feature creates a list of all headings and sub headings and displays in a separate pane.

How does Document Map help you?

You can quickly jump from one heading/subheading to another. Saves you from tireless browsing to get to a specific section.

How does Document Map work?

Word creates Document Map based on the heading styles applied in the document. Therefore, use built-in heading styles.

Note: To know how to apply built-in heading styles in your Word document, read the following article:

https://wordknowhow.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/how-to-fix-multilevel-list-in-word/

When you click an entity from the Map, Word brings up the corresponding section of the document to the top.

How can you view Document Map?

From the Word Ribbon, click tab menu View.

From the group Show/Hide, click select check box Document Map. Word displays the Document Map pane on the left.

Untitled

You can expand a heading level in Document Map to view its sub headings or collapse to hide all. Right-click anywhere in the Document Map pane, select a heading level. Document Map pane displays headings till that level only, e.g. if you select heading level 5, Document Map pane will display heading 1 through heading 5.

Untitled

How will you fix Document Map to remove unwanted entries?

Click the unwanted entry from the document map. Word places the cursor at the beginning of the corresponding heading/body text in the document.

Now, select the heading/body text and then right-click.

From the right-click menu, click Paragraph. The Paragraph dialog box appears.

On the Paragraph dialog box, under the tab Indent and Spacing and within section General, view the field Outline Level with a drop-down list.

Now, select the outline level as Body Text from the drop-down list. The content will no more be part of Document Map.

 

How to reduce file size when converting Word to PDF for online publishing?

As we know, converting a Word document to PDF has many benefits including cross-platform compatibility of PDF, reduced file size, protection, etc.

In Word environment, we convert a document to PDF by using the Save As option. In this process, resultant PDF would have a relatively lower size than the parent document. If you find PDF size still higher to publish online or email, there is an option that would considerably reduce the PDF file size. Here it is how.

  1. Open the Word document, which you are going to covert to PDF.
  2. Click the Office button and then point to Save As.
  3. From the sub-menu, click the option PDF or XPS. The Publish as PDF or XPS dialog box appears.
  4. From the bottom of the dialog box,
    1. Enter file name in the File Name field
    2. Select the Save as type as PDF
    3. Under the heading Optimized For, click the option Minimum size (publishing online)

Untitled

5.    Click Publish. You are done.

How to use Building Block Gallery in Word

Word 2007 & 2010 provides a gallery of style blocks known as Building Blocks Organizer. You can use these style blocks to create professional looking documents. The gallery also provides an option to store your own style blocks for future use. This saves your time and effort.

To access the Building Blocks Organizer

1.    On the Ribbon, under the tab Insert and within the group Text, click Quick Parts. A drop-down menu appears.

2.    From the menu, click Building Blocks Organizer. The building blocks gallery pops up.

 

To insert a style block

Select a block from the list, click  Insert.

 

To store your own blocks to Building Blocks Organizer

1.   Select the style block.

2.   On the Ribbon, under the tab Insert and within the group Text, click Quick Parts. A drop-down menu appears.

3.   From the bottom of the menu, click the Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery option. Quick part is added to the organizer.

You can sort the gallery list by clicking the column heading (i.e. Name).

 

How to copy content from different places and paste as a group at one one place in Word

This is a very useful, but lesser known feature in Word, which enables you to copy various types of content (texts/graphics) from different documents and paste all of them as a group at one place. The feature is called Spike. This is different from Clipboard, which only remembers the last copied content.

How to use Spike

  1. Open a Word document, which contains text, graphics, tables, etc.
  2. Select a text paragraph/an image/table and then press CTRL+F3. The paragraph/image/table would be deleted and copied to the Spike. (If you want the paragraph/image/table to remain intact in the original location press CTRL+z to undo)
  3. Repeat step 2 to copy the next text/images/table to Spike, and so on.
  4. Now, place mouse cursor at the insertion point and do one of the following:

 a.    Press CTRL+Shift+F3. All the copied contents from step 2 and 3 are pasted at the insertion position. This way you can paste content only once. Spike will be empty after single paste.

 b.    If you do not want to lose the copied content from Spike and paste the copied content multiple times, then type “spike” and then press F3 every time to paste. You can paste the copied content as many times as you want. You can keep adding content to Spike as well 🙂 Newly copied content would be added at the end of the last copied content. Again, type “spike” and then press F3.

Note: Selecting a table to Spike is a bit tricky. While selecting a table, along with the table, select the next line in the document too.

How to fill a Word document with random texts

 

This one is a nice trick to fill a Word document with random example texts. Use the following function:

     =rand (number of paragraphs, number of complete lines)

For example:

=rand (2, 2)

The above formula would create two paragraphs with two complete lines as shown below.

untitled

If you read the texts, you would realize that these are Word help topics.