Word 2000 Autocorrect.

[Budfred]

I have created a form on Word 2000 that needs to be used by several people who access it via a network. I had some long sentences that I needed to include that did not fit in a drop down menu, so I used autocorrect to enter them with a code. This is working really well except for one problem. We are all using the same computer to access this form, but each person has to be set up individually to do so and the autocorrect sentences have to reentered manually before each person can use them in a form. I would like to be able to associate the sentences with the stored copy of the form so that I only have to worry about that form. This is particularly important now that we see there will need to be some more sentences and I will have to set them up for everyone unless I can get them to carry over from the master copy. I have not access (or expertise) in working with the network, so there is not much that I can do at that level. Is there a way in Word to have these autocorrect additions stay with the form rather than having to be individually added?:confused: ?:confused: ?

Thanks,
Budfred

[david eaton]

Hi Budfred. Not certain about how to do it in word2000, I'm still on 97 (Somerset always was behind the times :)), but have you tried recording these sentences as Macros, not autocorrect?

A macro would be saved as part of the word document, and available to anyone on the network, provided their copy of word did not have macros disabled.

I don't think there is a way of associating autocorrect entries with a particular document.

OK, somebody is now going to come along and explain exactly how to do it!! Until then, hope that helps.

David

[Budfred]

Funny you should say that.:D My work site just installed some Word tutorials and after I posted my question today I found a tutorial on Macros and went through it. I was thinking of trying that very thing on Monday. I really appreciate hearing from someone else that it can be done!:) :cool:

Thanks,
Budfred

[Paul Komski]

Another method to play with - especially if you have a lot of sentences that you want to choose from.

You could save them as Merge Fields in a "document". Excel might be the easiest "document" to set up. Just give the top row the names for the sentences or use the same "codes" that you have been using so far for autocorrect. Then in the second row put each sentence in one cell. Then Save it as something like SentenceData.xls.

In your form document (or a copy of it to play with) select Mail Merge from the Tools menu. Click Create and then Select "Form Letters" and choose "Active Window". Then click Get Data and Choose "Open Data Source" and browse to the Spreadsheet that you created your sentences in (having chosen files of type "Excel". Select Entire Spreadsheet and click OK. Click Edit Main Document and you should be returned to your form.

Place the cursor where you want a sentence entered and then select Insert Merge Field from the MailMergeToolbar. Then just select the Field/Code you want entered there and that should be that.

If the field appears as the code inside carets, just toggle the ABC button on the same toolbar to see the actual sentence rather than the "field name". If you have only entered one row of "codes" and one row of data there will only be one set of data to select from. The top row in Excel will automatically have been designated as "field names".

If users on other pcs on the network are accessing the form on your pc then it may not be necessary to repoint to the data source. But if you need to do this on each pc you would just click the Tools<>MailMerge selection and then open the data source as before and browse to the master excel document, wherever you stored it.

Having set up the spreadsheet as your data source it is very easy to add and edit the fields inside it.

[Budfred]

Thanks for the idea. I had actually already worked on that idea, but it got way to complicated for the folks that have to use it. One of the other people has trouble figuring out how to create and use folders in Outlook, so she may not even be willing (or able) to use the simpler form that I have created. She is the only one that hasn't made any effort to learn how either, even though she may have to use it in the very near future. Even the others would balk if I asked them to do something that required more than one step. I am trying to learn enought about designing a web based form to put in in that format with selection boxes where they can simply click on the options they want, but I don't know how to do that yet.

I think I will try the Macro thing for now.

Thanks,:)
Budfred

[david eaton]

Budfred.
While setting up a web based form with either drop down menu type boxes or "radio buttons" is not too difficult, I think that transferring the results to a Word document would be VERY difficult. In fact, I cannot think of a way it can be done.


Alright, then, where are the experts to tell me That's toooo easy!

Macros are going to be the easiest both for you and your users, even if they are all as "computer challenged" as you describe.

David

[Budfred]

Actually, I can make the Word document into a web document just by saving it that way and then it allows me to use web tools on it. I just haven't figured out how to that and print out a clean copy from the result.

Thanks,
Budfred

[Paul Komski]

Just about all the applications in Office2000 have options to SaveAs WebPage. The main limitation is that they are not truly WYSIWYG and so further modification in an editor may be necessary for them to display as you want them to if you and your colleagues will be working on them in a browser, as opposed to working on them in Word. Either way printing them should be no problem and the PrintPreview is particularly useful in this respect.

You should still be able to use the Web Form Objects in a Word (.doc) Document for displaying and printing out copies. But you wont be able to use it as a true Web Form unless you have it installed as a WebPage on an appropriate Web Server; in which case it would either save the details to a file or send out the results in an email, when the submit button was pressed.

BudfredFrom this and earlier posts I think a Form or Report set up in Access might be the most versatile and useful way for you to go. Don't know if you are interested, but if you want to eMail me a basic template of your "form" it would be no problem to set up a simple mdb and send it back to you to see what you think. You would of course need to have Access installed.

[Budfred]

Thanks for the offer Paul, but my database person at work has stated very strongly that she doesn't want any more Access based databases.

I am not sure how I would use it as a Web form, but I may do some more work on figuring out how to use it. The only use for the form at present is to print it out and store it in a folder, but eventually we may need to access the data contained in it and be able to transfer it to an online medical record. Using Macros will probably work for now.

Thanks,
Budfred

[Budfred]

:( I spoke too soon. I am back at work and tried using macros. The problem that I ran into was that I have to lock the form so that the drop down menues can be used, but when it is locked, the macros won't work. I could probably do the whole form in macros, but the other people using it would lynch me because of having to use so many codes to complete it (actually they would just refuse to use it). So I am back to the same spot I was before. I can enter the sentences using AutoCorrect codes, but I have to set them up for each person on each computer they use on the network. At this point that means finding 8 times to do this and any changes will require the same time commitment. I can still try to do it as a web document and I will play with that, but I am real open to other suggestions for making the codes go with the document or allowing the sentences I need to be part of a drop down or menu in the document. I can't use Access for it and I don't have another web page creator that IT will let me use on the network. Any other ideas out there???:confused:

Thanks,
Budfred

[Dreamboat]

You can:

a) create a dropdown menu from which your users can select the items they want to enter.

b) have those menus execute macros that first unprotect, run their code to insert text, then reprotect the document while saving the previously entered data; all with or without password protection

Let me know if you want more information on that.

[Budfred]

Thanks for the ideas. I certainly would prefer to use a dropdown menu, but I haven't been able to because the sentences involved are too long. Do you know how to extend the length of sentences allowed so that I can use this alternative. I have the AutoCorrect length set to about 200 characters to make sure I have room for them.

I will look at trying the Macro thing again, it sounds like that might work, but dropdown would still be preferable.

Thanks again,
Budfred

[Dreamboat]

I made one that just showed the beginning of the sentence of the *significant* part of a sentence...enough to allow the user to choose.

You shouldn't need to have the whole sentence as the menu item...

Feel free to email me with an example if you're not comfortable posting details in the open forum.

;)

[Budfred]

Dreamboat,

You said: "I made one that just showed the beginning of the sentence of the *significant* part of a sentence...enough to allow the user to choose. You shouldn't need to have the whole sentence as the menu item... "

I don't understand this. If I can get it to print out the entire sentence without showing the entire sentence in the dropdown, that would be great, but when I tried to enter the sentences in the dropdown and then apply that, it cut them off. Is there a way to have it show the entire sentence even though only part shows in the drop down??:confused:

Thanks for the ideas thus far,
Budfred

[Dreamboat]

Sorry, guy. You're talking about dropdown form fields...I'm talking about a dropdown MENU. The VBA macro would actually store and hold the text.