Creating and using a template (online form with content controls)

[Esme]

Apologies if this has been answered somewhere, been trying to solve for a couple of hours now.

I am trying to create a template and then use it as a fillable form. I have been following https://support.office.com/en-us/art...b-ac44937e3a9f and https://support.office.com/en-US/Art...2-1191bce57deb and several other sites in between.



When I create the template, from a blank document, I can see and edit from the controls. That is - I have checkboxes that I can toggle on and off, and areas with the "Click here to enter text" where if I click it's a box I can enter text in. My date inserts and drop down boxes operate as expected. Up until the point where I save it and re-open (for editing of the template or as a document).

I cannot however use this template and have controls I can edit - the checkboxes are just squares and the "Click here to enter text" boxes are just the words in text on the page. I can either edit everything as if it were just a typed page, or if I "Restrict Editing" on the template the whole page is locked and I cannot change anything.

I am unsure what I am doing wrong and have not found any sites that address this problem (but a couple of posts with the same problem without a solution).

What I want is a document where all the headings and questions are static and I can create a new one and fill in the details. I assumed templates is the way to do this, but there could be a better way?

Any advice or pointers to instructions that are step by step through a document through to be able to use it would be appreciated. I try to use a template by going to New -> My Templates and double click the template I want to use.

Thanks

[Charles Kenyon]

Make the areas where you want to allow editing "exceptions."
If you have not already done so, activate the Developer Tab.

[Charles Kenyon]

What you are talking about is what Word has called an online form. For templates in general, see Templates in Microsoft Word. This Word jargon. In this jargon, the word template means a special type of file that is used as the basis for other (document - non-template files). An online form is best configured as Word template but what the user fills in is a document based on the template.

Making Forms with Microsoft Word