The first thing to do is to find out what kind of dropdowns you're working with. With the document unprotected, press Alt-F9. If the dropdowns change to {FORMDROPDOWN}, they're formfields, in which case you can only use the 'Filling in Forms' restrictions. If they're not formfields, they could be content control or ActiveX controls. If their default text is a greyed-out 'Choose an item', they're probably content controls. Clicking on one then clicking on 'Properties' on the Developer Tab will pop up a dialogue box whose title will tell you if it's a content control; if not, it's an ActiveX control.

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Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]