We've developed a lengthy survey with text box and check box controls. We followed instructions we found online that showed how the completed form can be saved as a delimited text document which contains just the data entered into the controls (file/save as/more options/tools/save options/advanced/save form data as delimited text file).

A week or so ago, we tested this procedure with a small version of our survey and it worked. We tested it with an older sample file we found online (in Word 1997-2003 format) and *that* worked.

Now we're trying to do it with our full survey and cannot get it to save a delimited text file that contains anything. Not only that, but the files we created earlier to test the procedure no longer work, and we can't create anything from scratch that works. In all cases, the text files we create contain no data.

The sample file still works. And we've determined that a form that uses “text form fields” (from the Developer section, under Controls > Legacy Forms) will work. Using the default “rich text content” fields will not work now, though it did before, and the instructions online show them being used successfully.

Does anyone have any idea what's going on here? Any suggestions for making our survey work, without having to create it again from scratch using a different system?

Many thanks,



-Scott

I do not know that this ever worked with Content Controls. I think one or more of the Word MVPs may have come up with utilities that do this, though. Hang in there.


Just to clarify, we are talking about a Microsoft Word form, not something else, right?

Thanks for the response.

I'm talking about a Word document that contains controls (similar to those used in Access forms) that allow one to enter data into text boxes, check boxes (both of which I'm using) and stuff like combo boxes, etc., (that I'm not using).

There's a video here: https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/mi...cel-worksheet/

To see the procedure for saving filled-in data as delimited text, skip to 1:30. To see the result: skip to 2:30. Where he gets a preview of delimited file containing data, I get a preview an empty file.

The save as text only is for documents using Legacy Form Fields. Legacy FFs will work with the older doc format files (Word 2003 or earlier) too. However AFAIK, you won't find a Rich Text legacy form field so I don't believe that is an available option.

If you are using docx files with Content Controls for your data entry - you would use linked CCs and would be able to extract the custom XML Part that contains the 'field' contents. Whilst you would then have the option of using a Rich Text CC, that would be a big mistake because the content in the xml file would be enormous and essentially unusable in any form other than another linked Rich Text CC.

Without seeing your export & version requirements it is hard to give you a definitive solution but if you are going to use docx files in 2007+ versions of Word, I would be using CCs. You can get a useful tool to help CC mapping activities here https://gregmaxey.com/word_tip_pages...rol_tools.html

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Producing forms for private clients is something I do a lot. Content controls are the way forward here. In addition to their flexibility, they are much faster to process to extract data than legacy form fields.

I have tools available on my web site which will make this task much easier e.g. for insertion of controls
https://www.gmayor.com/insert_content_control_addin.htm
For data extraction from controls
https://www.gmayor.com/ExtractDataFromForms.htm
The latter also includes a utility to convert form fields to content controls.

__________________
Graham Mayor - MS MVP (Word) (2002-2019)
Visit my web site for more programming tips and ready made processes www.gmayor.com

Thanks for the responses. A link to the survey we've developed is below. If anyone has the time/inclination to take a look and provide feedback, I'd greatly appreciate it.

FYI, these are intended for each of the 50 US states and the District of Columbia. One wrinkle that's affected how we've gone about this is that we want to pre-fill information that we already know before we send them out. That means 51 "customized" forms. This is why we haven't opted for online surveys that either don't let us pre-fill responses, or which make it difficult to turn a single template into 51 customized surveys. And to clarify, by customized, I mean different states would have different information pre-filled in their surveys.

The survey document:

http://www.scottmcknight.com/PIRE_Survey.docx