Word always opens in design mode (survey form with radiobuttons)

  • Thread starter Thread starter KR
  • Start date Start date
K

KR

Someone sent me a document to troubleshoot (and it isn't something obvious,
so I'm coming to you)- I'm using Word 2003 on Office 2000.

The file has a survey with 34 questions (across 2 pages) in a 6 column
table. The first column contains the questions, and the next five columns
each contain a radiobutton (with a groupname for each row).

Two problems:
1. Although there is no code in the document (no modules, and no code in the
main document window), the document always prompts with a macro warning on
open
2. Even if you select text, deselect design mode, and save (so it should
open as a usable survey), the document opens in design mode every time.

Any thoughts on things I could check that might affect either (or both) of
these issues?

Thanks!
Keith
 
Both problems are entirely caused by having radio buttons in the document.

Radio buttons are ActiveX controls from the Control Toolbox. Even if you
don't write a single line of VBA code, they will *always* trigger the macro
security warning unless (and I don't recommend this) you set the macro
security level to Low, or you sign the document with a digital certificate
and accept the certificate.

If you click the Enable Macros button in the warning, you won't get Design
Mode.

There is nothing the document author can do to influence the macro security
levels on other users' computers.

See
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnword2k2/html/odc_activeX.asp
for more information.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Is there an alternate control (maybe non-activeX), or some other good way of
creating a optionbutton-like form (not userform) in the word document that
allows a user to click to respond, rather than printing and manually filling
in a circle (symbol)?

This form was originally paper-only, but in today's world, the guy who does
the survey was getting feedback that folks wanted to be able to respond
electronically instead of having to print and fax their responses. I pointed
him toward optionbuttons because they are commonly used for surveys, etc.,
but I didn't know that it would cause these types of problems in Word. I'd
really like to suggest an alternative, if there is one... if it can't be
done in word, then they may have to look at other options.

Thanks!
Keith
 
How does the recipient of the survey responses read them? By eyeballing, or
with code? If the former, there is an unpretty but simple alternative: ask
your respondents to type an X to indicate a "yes" response in a particular
column.
 
The challenge is to have a form that looks as professional as possible in
both written and electronic format; with a circle symbol, a printed form
would look professional and easy to use, but the electronic version would
require the user to replace one symbol with an X (and heavens forbid that
the person change their mind, they'd have to delete the X and may feel
compelled to copy over an empty circle symbol, and so on). Although
everything is in a table now (and therefore, columns, per your suggestion)
the cell borders are set to "no line" to keep the page looking clean and
professional. A user could enter an X electronically, but if the page is
printed (without cell borders) then the user doesn't have any visual guide
on where to mark their responses.

Alternatively, is there anything that could be done with fields (I haven't
worked with them, so I'm not sure what can be done) maybe where the symbol
is in each field (in each column), but if the user clicks on the field it
automatically replaces the symbol with whatever they type?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Keith
 
True, check box form fields are an alternative. The problem there is that
they don't behave like radio buttons, where choosing one in a group turns
off the one that was previously selected. There's a way to solve that, but
it involves having a macro in the form
(http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/ExclusiveFmFldChbxs.htm), and
then you're back to getting a macro security warning unless the code is
digitally signed.

If you don't want protected forms, there's another alternative that uses
AutoText entries and macros
(http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Add_Toggle_Objects.htm). Again, because macros
are involved, the document must be signed to avoid the security warning.

If the form is always presented from a server on an intranet, as opposed to
being emailed, there's a better solution: Base the form document on a
template on the server, which must be available to everyone. Then the code
can be in the template instead of the document, and there won't be any
security warnings.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
You might have a look at the way Word's fax templates create check boxes;
for instructions on how to replicate them, see
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Add_Toggle_Objects.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

KR said:
The challenge is to have a form that looks as professional as possible in
both written and electronic format; with a circle symbol, a printed form
would look professional and easy to use, but the electronic version would
require the user to replace one symbol with an X (and heavens forbid that
the person change their mind, they'd have to delete the X and may feel
compelled to copy over an empty circle symbol, and so on). Although
everything is in a table now (and therefore, columns, per your suggestion)
the cell borders are set to "no line" to keep the page looking clean and
professional. A user could enter an X electronically, but if the page is
printed (without cell borders) then the user doesn't have any visual guide
on where to mark their responses.

Alternatively, is there anything that could be done with fields (I haven't
worked with them, so I'm not sure what can be done) maybe where the symbol
is in each field (in each column), but if the user clicks on the field it
automatically replaces the symbol with whatever they type?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Keith
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