KB185283 - WD98: Text Form Field Converted to Underline Characters

Article ID: 185283

Article Last Modified on 8/21/2007

Microsoft Word 98 for Macintosh

This article was previously published under Q185283

SYMPTOMS

When you open a document containing text form fields, the form fields are underlined and you cannot remove the underlining.

CAUSE

The document may have been converted to Word 6.0/95 format in Word 98 Macintosh Edition.

WORKAROUND

To remove the underlining, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Edit the Form Field

Editing the form field will remove the underlining. To edit a form field, follow these steps:

Double-click to edit the form field.
In the Options panel click OK.

Note, however, that saving the document back to Word 6.0\95 format from Word 98 Macintosh Edition, closing, and then reopening the document causes the underlining to reappear.

Method 2: Unprotect and Protect the Document Containing the Form Fields

You can unprotect and reprotect the document for form fields to remove the underlining. However, performing this workaround will cause all data entered into the form fields to be lost. To unprotect and reprotect the document without losing form field data you can use the following Visual Basic for Applications macro in Word 98 Macintosh Edition:

   Sub ProtectForFormsNoReset()
      With ActiveDocument
         ' If the document is protected, unprotect it.
         If .ProtectionType <> wdNoProtection Then .Unprotect
         ' Protect the document for formfields.
         .Protect Type:=wdAllowOnlyFormFields, NoReset:=True
      End With
   End Sub

For ease of use, you can assign this macro to a menu or toolbar.

For more information about adding a command to a menu, click Contents And Index on the Help menu (or on the Balloon Help menu if you are using a version of the Macintosh operating system earlier than 8.0), click the Index button in Word Help, type the following text

menus, commands

and then click Show Topics. Select the "Add a command or other item to a menu" topic, and click Go To. If you are unable to find the information you need, ask the Office Assistant.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

181058 OFF98: How to Run Sample Code from Knowledge Base Articles

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

REFERENCES

For more information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

163435 VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications

Additional query words: underscore characters

Keywords: kbbug kbfield kbforms kbpending KB185283