Hello all,



I need to make this form (pic.) into a semi-protected digital form (i.e. all the text you see on the form already needs to stay like that, the information needs to be filled in).

Would I be better off doing this in Word, Excel or maybe even Access?

If you could point me towards a more focused forum, that would be great.

Adam

Attached Images

IMG-20120814-00007.jpg (52.4 KB, 20 views)

Depends on what you want to do with the data. If you want to store all the data in a database and then use that data later, then Access, or use Excel or Word as front-end and use Access as back-end.

Though experts can make any of the programs do what they want, one has to remember the primary purpose do each program:

Access: for storing large amounts of data and retrieving it as needed. It does not have great text formatting tools, and is definitely not meant for creating long documents.

Excel: for smaller amounts of data where calculations are important. Very easy to create fillable forms like you have uploaded, but not for large quantities of text. Also, has limited formatting tools

Word: essentially a word processor. Very useful for long docs and rich formatting. Can create fill able forms, but more tedious. Definitely not ideal for performing calculations. Cannot store data.

Based on the info you have given, I think you will find Excel or Access, or a combination of these two to be most convenient for your needs.

Just to clarify, re Word:

Word is especially useful if the form is to be filled in by multiple users who don't have access to the PC on which the data might be stored or if you don't plan to add the data to a database or worksheet. In the latter scenario, PDF forms are equally useful and, given that most PC users have at least Adobe Acrobat Reader whereas they might not have Word, more widely accessible. Word forms are relatively easy to extract data from for loading into a database or worksheet.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Thanks everyone, it actually helped a lot in clearing it up.

Basically I need it to input the information, and then print off the sheet. It doesn't need to store any of the data, so based on the descriptions I'm going to go with Word or a PDF. Everyone who would be using it does have access to Word, so that might be easiest.

Thanks again.