Forms in MS Word - Trying to put forms on a server and prohibit modifications

[Laura M]

Please - someone help eliminate my brain block caused by sleep deprivation and Back to school shopping.

I create a form in word, use form fields....etc....and protect as a form. Yet when I input data it allows me to save and thus changes the form.

I'm trying to put forms on a server and stop modifications from occurring accidentally. I know to instruct everyone to do a "save as" but if they inadvertently save, I can't seem to stop. I thought clicking on Save for a protected .doc automagically became a Save As dialogue box.
I tried MS word HELP, but it didn't.

I'm thinking right now the server needs to specify read/write access to the location the files are stored, but my client's set-up is not that sophisticated.

In trivial pursuit and Millionaire this is known as an "Oh yeah- I knew that." .....

 

[CarolX]

how to

Laura,

I will e-mail you with bitmap pic to show you how to make your documents read only.

Brief how to - go to you document in your "My Documents" (or wherever you keep them), right click on the document, go to properties, and at the bottom check the document as read only, them move the document to your server. Anyone can open and even change their copy, but the master on the server can not be changed.

Good Luck,
CarolX

 

[energy]

I do it

Laura M.
I'm doing the hyper link thing in Word thanks to you. And, I'm pleased. I was unable to to save using the " form" field because it interupted my hyper link to any other document that I wanted to create within that same document. Having said that, minor problem (we talked about this), when I save a procedure in "form", nobody can even move the cursor to make changes. Our server file is set up with read only rights for everybody, except our MIS Guy and myself. He created a file on the server, on the what we call the "shared" drive where all general company material is stored for general use. He protected the file as read only, from on high, and I have password protected each file using the "form" option. Clear as mud. If you want to chat, e-mail me for our tool free number and maybe we can get something going.

energy

 

[James Gutherson]

Hi Laura, I can sympathsise and having just read Michael T's comments on defective 'thing's' I am ready to rant on about the quality of software.

What the other's have suggested, setting read only rights in the file properties 'should' work, but it is really a case of try and see with M$ products, and just because it works on one computer don't expect them all to behave that way.

I have tried to use the M$ recommended method of creating template forms with fill in fields etc, and saving the template (*.dot) into the designated folder - all in line with the M$ suggested practice. The user is then supposed to be able to go to File|New... and select the type of document they want. Word is then 'supposed' to create a new document based on the template, the name should be document1 or similar which prompts word to do a save as rather then a save.

This all works well on the computer I used to develop it, unfortunatly thing go all pear shaped on some other users computers connected to the network. For some users they get the same (correct) behaviour as me, a new document based on the template, but other users get the actual template opening, so if they don't notice any changes they make affect the actual template, therfore any subsequent users.

Why this happens I don't know, our IT department don't know, and M$ have no mention of it in their 'knowledge base'.
The computer industry is in a growth slump at the moment having reached a peak of sales - and my suggestion is that they a reached a point where people are not willing to but up with bad quality product. M$ is about to release a new operating system, and based on the history of it's predessesors it will have a few MILLION bugs in it. I understand that there are billions of lines of code but that is still a an error rate in the order of 1 in 100. Hardly 6 sigma stuff!
The problem is that people have been willing to accept these bugs as the norm in the computer industry (hardware and software) and are more willing to quickly get our hands on the latest product rather than waiting for a mature product to be created.
Someone said the computer industry will never reach 100% acceptance untill a computer can work like a fridge, and it think they are now seeing that hard edge of acceptance.

Here's hoping it forces them to start thinking about the quality of their product.
[/rant]

 

[Laura M]

So what your saying is, I can do all the forms on my home system, have it work, but when I install them on the clients server, it may go belly up? So far, CarolX's suggestion is working. I could do all the work on-site, maybe that's a better idea.

 

[energy]

Changes

Carol X, Laura M

The reason I "secure" the document it to prevent anybody from being able to make changes, in my paranoia state, is because someone can make unauthorized changes to the document/form-print it and play havoc with the written procedures controlled and distributed as hard copies (for those who do not ready access to the electronic files). If you choose to work at home, just save it to disc and bring it to work or your client and install on the system just as you would do at home. Whether you have Office 97 or Office 2000, "Word" hasn't changed. If your client is using a previous version of Word, it isn't that expensive to upgrade. While I've seen the occasional bashing of MS product, for someone like me who isn't as "technical" as I would like to be, it works just fine for my needs. I want user friendly programs that don't cause me to have to think about how I do it. There's enough on my plate to worry about. JMHO

energy

 

[E Wall]

What about using Adobe Acrobat Reader? You will need one Acrobat program but readers for everyone else's PeeCee are free. If I ead through the material correctly they also have possibility to complete 'forms' and print/store data.

Energy - Glad I'm not the only one constantly looking over my shoulder. Of course everyone else here is like "Who would do that?"...Then I have to gently remind them of the 'uncontrolled' documents we find periodically on the floor.

 

[D.Scott]

Just a comment on protecting documents in Word. I set up our system in Word and everything was wonderful until I discovered that when the protected document is opened in Works the protection is lost. You can make any changes you like. I am not sure how many other programs would have the same result.

We have since gone to a protected drive on our server which allows read/print only access. Since then I have found no problems (knock on wood).

Dave

 

[CarolX]

Adobe

Eileen,

Yes, absolutely, Adobe is the way to go for documents. One of Laura's problems had to do with forms, and Adobe is a "read only", no ability to fill in the blanks, hence the issue here. Thanks for bringing it up!

Laura,

Glad to hear it is working. Please let me know if you have any problems, cuz we are going to go intranet in about a year.

Have a great one all!

CarolX

 

[Jim Webb]

Like D. Scott I have my documents in a protected read only folder on our server. Forms are in template format. This has worked with no problems and the people using the forms seem happy.