Form Fields Lose Text When Protected for Forms

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Method 1: Alter the Protect/Unprotect Command Functionality

The following sample Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macros (Sub procedures) protect your form without causing you to lose the text that you entered into a form field. The macros can be stored in the actual form template to allow you to manually unprotect and reprotect the form while preserving the form field contents.

The following three Visual Basic macros can be used to ensure that your form field values are not reset to their defaults when you reprotect the form.

• The first macro runs when you click the Protect Form button on the Forms toolbar.
• The second macro runs when you click either Protect Document or Unprotect Document on the Tools menu.
• The third macro allows you to specify which sections to protect while maintaining previous form field values.

NOTE: The name of this macro must be ProtectForm.

 Sub ProtectForm()

      ' ******************************************
      ' ProtectForm Macro.
      ' Toggles protection for the active document
      ' when the Protect Form button on the forms
      ' toolbar is clicked.
      ' ******************************************
      If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType = wdNoProtection Then
         ActiveDocument.Protect Type:=wdAllowOnlyFormFields, NoReset:=True
      Else
         ActiveDocument.Unprotect Password:=""
      End If

   End Sub
				

The following sample Visual Basic macro protects the active document without displaying the Protect dialog box. When you run this macro, it will reprotect the active document while maintaining previous form field values.

NOTE: The name of this macro must be ToolsProtectUnprotectDocument.

      Sub ToolsProtectUnprotectDocument()

      ' ******************************************
      ' ToolsProtectUnprotectDocument Macro
      ' Sets protection for the active document
      ' when Protect Document or Unprotect Document
      ' is clicked on Tools menu
      ' ******************************************
      If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType = wdNoProtection Then
         ActiveDocument.Protect Type:=wdAllowOnlyFormFields, NoReset:=True
      Else
         ActiveDocument.Unprotect Password:=""
      End If

   End Sub
				

The following sample Visual Basic macro allows you to specify which sections to protect while maintaining previous form field values. You can assign this macro to a toolbar button or menu.

   Sub ProtectNoReset()

      Dim pDoc As Dialog
      Dim x As Integer
      On Error GoTo ProtectNoResetErr

      ' If the document is protected...
      If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType <> wdNoProtection Then

         ' Unprotect the document.
         ActiveDocument.Unprotect

      End If

      ' Display the Protect dialog box.
      Set pDoc = Dialogs(wdDialogToolsProtectDocument)
      x = pDoc.Display

      ' If Cancel was chosen, exit this procedure.
      If x = 0 Then Exit Sub

      ' Protect the document.
      ActiveDocument.Protect Password:=pDoc.DocumentPassword, _
         NoReset:=True, Type:=2

   ProtectNoResetErr: 'NOTE: This line MUST be left aligned.
      If Err <> 0 Then MsgBox Err.Description

   End Sub
				

Method 2: Create a Macro to Protect/Unprotect Your Document

The following examples protect the active document for forms without resetting the contents of the form fields. Create the macro and assign the macro to a key, menu, or toolbar button for easy access.

   If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType = wdNoProtection Then
      ActiveDocument.Protect Type:=wdAllowOnlyFormFields, NoReset:=True
   End If
				

Method 3: Unprotect, Check Spelling or Update a Field, Reprotect a Document

Because form field text is formatted for No Proofing, you can use the following macro to:

• Temporarily Unprotect the form.
• Change the language of the form fields.
• Perform a spell check or update a field.
• Reprotect the form while preserving the text you've typed into the form fields.

You can use this macro as an On Exit macro for the last form field so you can check the spelling or update a field before you save the form.

   Sub FormsSpellCheck()

      ' If document is protected, Unprotect it.
      If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType <> wdNoProtection Then
         ActiveDocument.Unprotect Password:=""
      End If

      ' Set the language for the document.
      Selection.WholeStory
      Selection.LanguageID = wdEnglishUS

      ' Perform Spelling/Grammar check.
      If Options.CheckGrammarWithSpelling = True Then
         ActiveDocument.CheckGrammar
      Else
         ActiveDocument.CheckSpelling
      End If

      ' ReProtect the document.
      If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType = wdNoProtection Then
         ActiveDocument.Protect Type:=wdAllowOnlyFormFields, NoReset:=True
      End If

   End Sub