I am designing word forms with content controls. A single form will be filled by two to three people. Kindly share with me a VBA to lock contents of each content control immediately after the end user edits the respective content control and press save. However, the unedited CCs shall remain editable…This is to ensure that the second user cannot edit changes made by the first user and so on. The CCs in use; Plain text CC, Check box CC, Picture CC, Date Picker CC and Drop down list CC. Thank you.

I would start with a macro like this which will run automatically when the user saves the file.
I think it will need to be more complex though to handle check boxes. How is the macro supposed to know that a check box has been completed?

This protection method is only as strong as the user's knowledge. If they know how to unlock a CC then they can do so easily.

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Thank you for the prompt response.

The VBA Code answers the question I asked for and I tested it and it works as desired. Is it possible to add a line to your code that disables copying of contents of content control. The target CC is the picture CC. This is to ensure other users cannot copy contents of the picture content control. I have noted that if you protect the document with password, it becomes impractical to unlock the CC unless your have the password to unlock the document and go to design mode>properties and unlock CC. I could be wrong but for me the VBA is good especially if you can add 'disable copying line.' As for check boxes, I will lock for work around.

Thank you.

For the checkboxes, you can test the type of CC and act accordingly. The question is 'how do we know the checkbox has been completed' - is an empty checkbox a sign of incompletion or a negative answer? If you take a look at this thread you will be able to see how you can test for types of CCs or the CC title or tag properties - https://www.msofficeforums.com/word-...it-macros.html

With the Picture CC, I would recommend you do some testing. I would try setting the CC to 'remove content control after editing'. If you have protected the document for forms, this will make the graphic uneditable since it won't be a CC.

I don't know that any protection you come up with is something I would fully trust - it will only stop the honest people. I would be pretty confident I could still extract your picture if you put it in a Word document with some form of protection that still allows me to see it.

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Thanks for the explanation. I will try other options.