Protected template issues

[MightyMouse58]

Hi,



I have been tasked to create a corporate report template which I have done. I've protected it so that users don't interfere with the styles. While users generally appear okay with it, there are a couple of things they want:
- to be able to insert Section Breaks additional to what I have provided in the template, and
- to be able to use the text highlighter

Both of these functions are grayed out in the protected template. Is there some way I can activate these functions while keeping styles locked?

Advice appreciated

Carl

[Charles Kenyon]

1. Do not protect the document for filling in forms. Instead, restrict to certain styles. Filling in forms is the most restrictive type of editing restriction with a number of problems. It is there for use with legacy form fields.
2. Provide styles that meet your users' needs. That would include styles that have shading (not highlighting). Highlighting cannot be a part of a style. Shading can.)

If you are using legacy form fields, unless there is a reason to continue with those, use Content Controls instead. (Do not mix.)
Create a Form Using Word Content Controls

[MightyMouse58]

G'day Charles,

thanks for coming back.

To be clear, I haven't protected the document for filling in forms, as I am not using form fields. And I have discussed with my users what they want after putting the template out there for use.

My users are engineers, and why I mentioned highlighting is because that is what they want - the ability to highlight text for review or as a reminder to come back and fix. I was hoping that there was some way to enable the highlighting tool but I'll have to look at creating a style that does what I want.

The other thing though is the ability to insert section breaks. This could be a show-stopper. Any ideas?

Cheers

[Charles Kenyon]

How are you restricting your editing? If you are simply restricting to certain styles, there should be no problem inserting section breaks.


Why do they want to insert section breaks?
If it is so they can change the headers and footers, they need to look into use of the StyleRef Field. There are lots of good reasons to insert section breaks, that just is not usually one of them.

[MightyMouse58]

Please see comments below (in bold) in your response.

Originally Posted by Charles Kenyon

How are you restricting your editing? If you are simply restricting to certain styles, there should be no problem inserting section breaks.

On the Page Layout tab in the ribbon, the Breaks option in Page Setup is greyed out, restricting users only to normal page breaks.


Why do they want to insert section breaks?

They need to be able to insert additional annexes, and without section breaks the page numbering goes wrong. Also they may need to adjust page size and/or orientation within an annex.

If it is so they can change the headers and footers, they need to look into use of the StyleRef Field. There are lots of good reasons to insert section breaks, that just is not usually one of them. - what do you mean by this statement? I don't understand where you're coming from.

[MightyMouse58]

G'day Charles,

currently reading your pages re StyleRef and Sections/Headers and Footers - must admit, you've got a lot of good info there. Hopefully after reading, I may have answers.

Cheers

[Charles Kenyon]

Section breaks
When you are restricted as to styles, you can change margins, page size, or orientation from this point forward or for selected text. This inserts a section break automatically. For selected text, it will add two section breaks.


To do more, you can use the Page Layout dialog.

00 deleteme 2.png

Headers/Footers
You can use the StyleRef field to change what appears in the same header/footer on different pages. Many people think they need a section break to do what the StyleRef field can handle.