Create a word document by answering questions?

[mattfrack]

Hello,

This is a long shot. I use Word a great deal but I am looking for a feature that I suspect doesnt exist. I have plenty of template letters for business that are all pretty similar except for small details.

A colleague assures me that they used to build documents in word by 'answering questions'. I know that there is 'Ask Fields' and merges, but Ask simply asks the questions at the start, when the document is opened.

My colleague believes they used word, opened a document and as you would get options such as "Is this a mortgage application letter? YES NO" and if tick the yes button, the mortgage application text would be added to the document.
"Is this a friend or business contact?" and depending on what you select the appropriate text is added to the document.

Basically building up a document bit by bit, by selecting pre-written sections.

Is this something that can be done?

Id appreciate any experts help!

Many thanks

[jjfreedman]

To use specific questions like the ones you mentioned, the template would require custom macro programming. The answers would probably be used to insert custom building blocks (stored in the template) at predetermined places in the document. It can be done, and the final result can be quite impressive in both efficiency and formatting. However, it would take someone with good macro-writing skills and detailed knowledge of how the final document should look and how the questions should be worded and sequenced.