Knowledge Base

WD2000: Preserving Text When Re-protecting a Form Without Macros

Article ID: 191027

Article Last Modified on 12/6/2000

Microsoft Word 2000 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q191027

SYMPTOMS

When a form with information entered in the fields is manually unprotected and then re-protected, the information is lost and the form fields are reset to their default settings.

WORKAROUND

Locking text form fields prior to protecting the form prevents the entered text from being lost if the form is unprotected and re-protected. To lock a text field, follow these steps:

Select the field.
Press CTRL+F11.

NOTE: If Help for WordPerfect Users is selected, CTRL+F11 will not function.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

The information in text fields will not be lost when the document is protected again, and the fields will function as usual while the form is being filled out in protected mode.

WARNING: This workaround preserves only text fields. Check boxes and drop-down list selections are still lost when you unprotect and re- protect the field. A calculation field will no longer be updated and will maintain the current value until unlocked, even if it is printed or if a macro is run to update it.

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

191028 WD2000: How to Retain Information Typed into a Form Field When You Protect a Form

Additional query words: losing deleting delete field formtext tools lost forms

Keywords: kbbug kbnofix KB191027