Cementing/Fixing text in Word

[Q8user]

I have many, many templates to be used by a variety of users. These are word documents and the text users have to fill in is indicated by blue italicized script. This could be just a few words or it could be whole paragraphs. Either way, this will alter the justification and layout of the document and I am then relying on the user having word skills to correct and adjust the document accordingly.



Can I create documents where the user can just click on the blue text and their input automatically over types in the standard font. Can the text around the insert space be fixed so that it cannot move?

I think this is too sophisticated for a Word document but I don't want to restrict users to putting text into pre-defined boxes.

Many thanks.

[gmayor]

Have you investigated content controls? At their simplest these are intended as place holders for user input text.

As Word is a style driven application rather than a text layout application, it is inevitable that text will move to accommodate the text added. If you don't want it to move, then use (borderless) frames or table cells of fixed dimensions to hold the text.

[Charles Kenyon]

Yes. You can use a Content Control or a MacroButton Field Prompt. For non-moving surrounding text, your insertion places have to be in something like a frame or table cell of fixed size as Graham noted. The key word in his response is "borderless." Done appropriately, the user will never notice.