Interactive forms in word

Creating Fillable Forms Using Microsoft Word

1. Enable Developer Tab. Open Microsoft Word, then go to the File Tab > Options > Customize Ribbon > check the Developer Tab in the right column > Click OK.
2. Insert a Control.
3. Edit Filler Text.
4. Design Mode button again to exit the mode.
5. Customize Content Controls.

Can you make a fillable form in Word?

You can create the form with the desktop version of Word with the instructions in Create a fillable form. When you save the document and reopen it in Word for the web, you’ll see the changes you made.

Create a Word document and save it in Word, then open Acrobat. Click the “Tools” menu and click “Prepare Form.” Select the Word file to import. Acrobat will detect potential form fields and add them automatically, but you can use the tools in the right editing pane to adjust them, delete them or add new form fields.

How do you create an interactive form?

How to create fillable PDF files:

1. Open Acrobat: Click on the “Tools” tab and select “Prepare Form.”
2. Select a file or scan a document: Acrobat will automatically analyze your document and add form fields.
3. Add new form fields: Use the top toolbar and adjust the layout using tools in the right pane.
4. Save your fillable PDF:

How do I create an interactive form in Word 2016?

How To Create A Fillable Form in Word 2011 and 2016

1. Open a new document in Word.
2. Click on the Word menu and select Preferences.
3. Click the Ribbon button on the bottom row on the right-hand side.
4. In the Customize section, scroll through the list and insert a check mark next to Developer.
5. Click the OK button.

How do I save a Word document as a fillable template?

Saving and Using a Form

1. Press F12. Word displays the Save As dialog box.
2. Using the Save As Type drop-down list, select Word Template.
3. If necessary, change to the directory where the template is to be stored.
4. In the File Name field, enter the name under which you want this template saved.
5. Click on Save.

How do I make a PDF Interactive for free?

How To Save an Interactive PDF

1. Go to File > Export.
2. Name your save file.
3. Select Adobe PDF (Interactive) as the file format.
4. Choose your Export To Interactive PDF options. For example, you need to specify how movies, audio and buttons will act in the new document.
5. When you’re satisfied with the PDF settings, click OK.

Can you make a PDF interactive?

With the file saved, choose File > Export. In the Export dialog box, choose Adobe PDF (Interactive) as the format. In the Export to interactive PDF dialog box, you can set options like fitting the page in the viewer, showing as spreads, page transitions, and more.

How do I make an interactive PDF?

How to create an interactive PDF

1. Upload the PDF file in Flipsnack.
2. Click on the “Editor” button and start inserting interactive buttons in your catalog.
3. Customize and brand the look of your publication.
4. Publish your digital catalog as public or private.
5. Share the link of your interactive PDF with your customers.

What is an interactive form?

An interactive form is a data-gathering window containing multiple questions that interactively change based on user input. In other words, a user’s response to one question may cause one or more additional questions to be added to the window.

How do I create a fillable form in Word 2021?

To do this, click on “File” tab > “Options” > “Customize Ribbon”. Then under the “Customize Ribbon”, select the “Developer” checkbox and click “OK”. Step 2: Open a Word document and you will be able to make the Word document fillable.

How do I create a fillable template in Word 2016?

Creating a computerized form

1. Press Ctrl+N to create a new document.
2. On the File tab, choose Save As. You see the Save As window.
3. Click the Browse button. The Save As dialog box opens.
4. Open the Save As Type menu and choose Word Template.
5. Enter a descriptive name for your template and click the Save button.

How do I make a fillable form in word and not editable?

To make a document un-editable, first, select all the text in the document by pressing Ctrl+A. Once all of the text is highlighted, click “Restrict Editing” in the “Protect” group on the “Developer” tab.

How do I make a fill in the blank line in Word 2020?

Place the insertion point where you want the ruling line (underlining). On the Format menu, click Font. In the Underline style box, select the line style you want, and then click OK. For every blank space you want to underline, press CTRL+SHIFT+SPACEBAR.

How do you make a PDF sharable?

Share your document

1. In Google Drive, select your file.
2. Click Share .
3. Enter the names or email addresses of the people you want to share the document, spreadsheet, or presentation with.
4. Choose their permission level (edit, comment, view).
5. Click Send.

How do I add interactive text boxes to a PDF?

Using the Text Box feature, you can add text on top of an existing PDF document.

1. Open your PDF document.
2. Switch to Edit Mode.
3. Wait for the Edit toolbar to appear.
4. Select the Text Box icon.
5. Click on the page that you want to add the Text Box.
6. Remove place-holding text and enter desired text in the box.

Can you animate a PDF?

Acrobat Pro can only create animated page transitions, such as “Wipe” and “Fade,” similar to slide transitions in PowerPoint. However, you can use the program’s “Flash” and “3D” tools to embed animated files in your PDFs to create truly animated PDFs.

Can Google Forms be interactive?

“Interactive Forms” enables you to create Google Slides that can be populated live using Google Forms, based on your own customizable template. The presentation is updated live by the participants that each submit a response to your Google Form.

If you use forms at work, you’ll love the convenience of interactive or fillable forms in Microsoft Word. Forms that you can fill out make gathering information easy.

 With a fillable form, all you’ve got to do is create a form in Word. Then you can use it over and over again. There’s nothing to print, so interactive forms are good for both your budget and the environment.

If you want a fillable form that also looks good, then begin with a template in Word. Form templates for Microsoft Word are available in Envato Elements and GraphicRiver.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a fillable form in Word, so you can reap all the benefits of an interactive form.

Find Great Form Templates on Elements

Fillable forms in Word have a variety of uses. Human resources use forms to capture employee and consultant information. Organizations use forms to register members, students, or clients. You also use forms to take orders for your products and services. Those are only a few examples of how useful fillable forms are.

Ideally, you want your Microsoft Word forms to be consistent with your branding. Well-designed forms reflect your credibility and professionalism. That’s why you want to avoid generic-looking forms. Want to know how to make a fillable form in Word that’s aligned with your visual brand?

The easiest way is by using templates for Word with pre-built tables or forms. One awesome source for Word templates is Envato Elements. Elements has an irresistible offer: for one low monthly fee, you get unlimited downloads of the millions of creative assets in its library. These include:

• Word templates
• fonts
• graphics
• photos
• and more

Whatever you need to make your forms look as good as possible, you can find in Elements.

If you need to create only one form, then a better source for Word templates is GraphicRiver. It’s got the same massive library of creative assets but on a pay-per-use basis. For the one-off project in Word, GraphicRiver is a terrific and budget-friendly option.

How to Create Fillable Forms in Word

You may be wondering, «How do I make a fillable form in Word?» Let me take you step-by-step through how to create a fillable form in Word.

Note: In the following tutorial, I’m using Microsoft Word for Mac version 16.48. If you’re using a different version, then the steps and interface may be different. But these steps should still be helpful for you.

1. Show the Developer Tab

As a first step, make sure that the Developer tab is showing up for you. This may be hidden by default. If you don’t see the Developer tab, follow these steps:

Go to Word > Preferences. 

The Word Preferences menu opens. Click on the Ribbon & Toolbar button. 

The Ribbon & Toolbar menu pops up. Under Main Tabs, scroll down and check Developer. Click Save.

The Developer tab should now be visible.

2. Determine the Layout and Structure of the Form

The next step is to determine the layout and structure of the fillable form. This will depend on what information you want to capture. You may want to sketch this on a sheet of paper first. 

When you know what the form will look like, create a table in Word. By creating your form as a table in Word, it’ll be easier for you to keep things aligned and organized. The cells of the table are the form fields. Keep this in mind as you create your interactive form. This tutorial shows you the steps for how to make a table in Word:

Another option is to use a Word template with a pre-built table as a form. This way, the form has already been professionally designed. All you’ve got to do is to customize the form in Word according to your needs. Remember that the form template must have been built as a table so that you can make the form interactive in Word.

In the steps that follow, I’m going to create a form from scratch by first creating a table in Word:

Now, it’s time to make this a fillable form in Word.

3. Add Form Fields With Content Controls

You create a fillable form in Word by adding form fields. There are different types of form fields with content controls, depending on the types of responses you’re looking for.

Under the Developer tab, you’ll see buttons for creating a Text Box, Check Box, and Combo Box (or drop-down form field).

Let me show you how to create each type of form field:

How to Add a Word Fillable Form Text Box

Place the cursor where you would like to create a text field. Click on the Developer tab, then the Text Box button. 

A text box is created. To change the text box settings, click on Options. The Text Form Field Options menu opens.

Here, choose various settings. For example, you’ve got several Text Types to choose from:

• Regular Text
• Number
• Date
• Current Date
• Current Time
• Calculation

Add a Default Text for the form field to guide respondents in filling out the form. You can also specify the Maximum Length and Text or Number Format. 

When you’re happy with the settings, click OK. Repeat for each text box you want to create.

How to Add a Check Box to a Fillable Form in Word

Next, let’s make check boxes. First type the text for the check box items. Then, place your cursor in front of the first item. Go to Developer > Check Box. 

A check box appears where your cursor was. Again, change the check box settings by clicking on the Options button.

The Check Box Form Field Options menu opens. Here you can determine whether the Default Value for the check box is Not Checked or Checked. Specify the Check Box Size and other options. When you’re done setting up the check box options, click OK.

Repeat these steps for the other check boxes.

How to Create a Drop-down Field in a Fillable Form in Word

Finally, let’s add a drop-down field in our form. Place the cursor where you want the drop-down menu to be, then go to Developer > Combo Box. 

To add the drop-down menu items, click on the Options button. The Drop-Down Form Field Options menu opens.

Type a drop-down item, then click the + sign. 

Repeat for each drop-down item you want to include in your fillable form. When you’re done, click OK.

Only the first drop-down item will appear. You’ll see the rest when you test the form.

4. Finalize the Form

Before using the fillable form in Word, it’s a good idea to first test it. To do this, click the Protect Form button on the Developer ribbon.

Now that the form is protected, fill the form fields like your respondents would. You’ll notice that the drop-down menu items appear when you click on the field or the arrow beside it.

When you’re happy with how the fillable form works, finalize the document by formatting the page. Click Protect Form again to un-protect it, so you can edit the document. Now’s the time to change fonts, colors, add logos, and format the form as you wish.

This is what my final fillable form looks like:

You may also decide to remove the shading for each form field. To do so, go to Developer > Shading.

I’m going to keep the Shading on, to make it clear to my respondents where they’re supposed to type in their answers. That’s because I deleted the borders of my table to give my form a cleaner appearance. If you keep the table borders, then it makes sense to switch off the form field Shading.

5. Use and Distribute Fillable Forms in Word

Once the fillable form in Word is completed, share it with your users or respondents. Do this by sharing the fillable form as an email attachment.

First, make sure that the form is protected. This ensures that other users won’t be able to edit the form when you share it with them.

Next, click on Share > Share a Copy.

In the menu that opens, click Email as Attachment.

This launches your default email application with the fillable form attached.

3 Top Form Templates for Word (Unlimited Downloads from Elements)

If you want a form with an impressive design, it’s best to start with a form template for Word. Templates with built-in forms are designed by professional graphic designers. This means the biggest—and hardest—design decisions have already been made for you. By customizing the colors and fonts and adding your logo, you can make the template truly your own.

Below are a few form templates for Word that look great: 

1. Clean Business Registration Form Template

The Clean Business Registration Form template for Word allows you to gather basic personal information and contact details. It’s useful for registering employees, clients, members, vendors, and more. This form template comes in A4 size. You’ve got the option of customizing it with your branding colors. The template comes in Microsoft Word files, as well as files for InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, and Photoshop.

2. Order Form

Receive orders for your products or services with this Order Form for Word. This A4-sized template uses paragraph styles, making it easy to edit in Microsoft Word. It also comes in Adobe InDesign files, if you’re more comfortable editing in that application. A file guide is included to help you customize this template.

3. Client Questionnaire

Impress your clients with this Client Questionnaire template that looks anything but generic. Editable in both Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign, this form template comes in A4 size. A 34-page guide walks you through how to edit and use the template files.

More of the Best Word Templates for Your Business or Organization

Now you know how to create a fillable Word document. But aside from fillable forms, your business or organization needs other types of documents. Using templates for MS Word helps you create professional-looking documents quickly. Premium Word templates are designed to be easy to customize, so you end up with materials that are coherent with your brand.

Here are more Word templates you can customize to easily create impressive documents for your business or organization:

Learn More About Using Microsoft Word for Your Business and Personal Needs

Whether for personal or business use, MS Word lets you create various kinds of documents. But with power comes complexity, so it can take time to learn how to use its robust features.

The best place to start is with our ultimate guide, Learn How to Use Microsoft Word (Beginner Tutorial Guide). It takes you from the basics of opening and creating Word files, to more advanced skills like comparing and merging two Word documents.

These Word tutorials will also help:

Enhance Your Workflow With Fillable Forms in Word

You’ve seen how convenient it is to use an interactive, fillable form. And now, you know how to create your own fillable form in Word.

Take it up a notch by starting with a Word template, such as those from Elements or GraphicRiver. These professionally-designed templates for Word are sure to impress your clients, employees, or members.

For unlimited downloads of Word templates, take your pick of the vast options in Envato Elements. For one small monthly subscription, you get unlimited downloads of anything you want in its massive library. These include photos, fonts, graphics, as well as sound effects, music, and stock video. If you create many marketing and communication materials, Elements gives you massive value.

For one-off projects, GraphicRiver is another massive library of Word templates and other creative elements. But with GraphicRiver, you pay only for each single use of each item. It’s an affordable way of getting the same professional results.

You can use Word to create interactive digital forms that other people can fill out on their computers before printing or sending them back to you. It takes a little preparation but keeps you from having to decipher messy handwriting! Some of the tools you will use when creating a form include:

• Templates: Forms are normally saved as templates so that they can be used again and again.
• Content controls: The areas where users input information in a form.
• Tables: Tables are often used in forms to align text and form fields, and to create borders and boxes.
• Protection: Users can complete the form fields without being able to change the form’s text and/or design.

Show the Developer Tab

Before you can create a form, you’ll need to turn on the Developer tab to get access to the advanced tools.

1. Click the File tab.

   

2. Select Options.

   

   The Word Options window opens.

3. Click the Customize Ribbon tab on the left.

   The column on the right controls which ribbon tabs are enabled.

4. Check the Developer check box.
5. Click OK.

   

The Developer tab now appears on the ribbon. In addition to advanced tools for macro recording, add-ins, and document protection, we now have access to form controls.

Create a Form

Once you’ve enabled the Developer tab, and created the layout and structure of the form, you can start adding form fields to your document with Content Controls.

1. Place the text cursor where you want to insert the form field.
2. Click the Developer tab on the ribbon.

   The Controls group contains the different kinds of content controls you can add to a form, as well as the toggle button for Design Mode.

3. Click the Design Mode button in the controls group.

   While Design Mode is active, controls you insert won’t be active, so clicking a check box to move it around won’t also check it. You can also customize placeholder text for some controls.

   

4. Click a Content Control buttons to insert the selected type of control.

   The content control is inserted.

   Select a form field and click the Properties button on the ribbon to edit a control’s options. Depending on the type of control you’ve inserted, you can change its appearance, set up the options in a list, or lock the control once edited.

5. When you’re done, click the Design Mode button again to exit Design Mode.

   

You leave Design Mode, and the content controls that you’ve inserted can now be used.

Types of Form Controls

There are many different types of form controls you can add to a form that will allow people to add different types of responses.

Finalize a Form

When you’re ready to distribute a form so others can fill it out, you can restrict the form so that content controls cannot be removed or changed by those filling it out.

1. Click the Restrict Editing button on the Developer tab.

   The Restrict Editing pane appears on the right.

2. Check the Editing restrictions check box.
3. Click the Editing restriction list arrow.
4. Select Filling in forms.

   When this option is enabled, the only change that anyone else can make to this document is the filling in of form fields. They won’t be able to move, delete, or edit the fields themselves until protection is turned off.

   

5. Click the Yes, Start Enforcing Protection button.

   A password is not required to start enforcing protection, but you can add one if you’d like to prevent just anyone from turning this protection off.

6. Enter a password (optional), then click OK.

   

The document is now restricted, and anyone you send it to will only be able to fill in the forms.

FREE Quick Reference

Click to Download

Free to distribute with our compliments; we hope you will consider our paid training.

The ability to create customized, interactive forms to collect data is a powerful, but often underutilized feature of Word. In this blog, we will discuss how to create electronic forms using form controls such as text content, drop-down list, and check box. In addition, you will learn how to protect the form and collect data.

Getting Started

In order to work with Forms you must first enable the Developer tab. To do this:

1. Click File, then Options.
2. Next, choose the Customize Ribbon category.
3. Then, check Developer in the right pane.
4. Click OK to apply the change.

Creating a Basic Form

First, create a table and layout the basic structure of your form – merge and split cells as necessary and apply desired styles. Be sure to save the file as a template. An example is below:

Inserting Form Controls

Next, you will add some form field controls that will allow the users to interact with the form in an electronic format. Controls are objects that make it easier for users to enter data or make a selection.

You can locate basic form controls in the Controls group of the Developer tab. You will notice that there are different categories of controls: Content controls, Legacy controls, and Active X controls (the latter two accessed by clicking the briefcase icon).

Each category type has its advantages and disadvantages and you should choose the category type depending on your purpose for using the form. Microsoft added Content Controls in 2007 but there remains much to praise about the old Legacy Form fields.

• Content controls are best if you only intend to print or save the entire form. There are several types of controls available in this category allowing your form to be the most dynamic and robust.
• Legacy controls are best if you intend to collect data from the form in a text-delimited file. They work only when you protect the document. Other advantages include easy tabbing between fields and shading of editable fields.
• ActiveX controls are best for webpages and they require macros in order to operate.

Let us take a quick look a few common and popular controls:

Inserts a text box control, where users can enter data.

Inserts a checkbox, where users can specify one or more conditions.

Inserts a drop-down list, where users can pick from a drop-down menu.

NOTE: We will be using Legacy form controls for the remainder of this blog article.

To insert a control:

1. First, place your cursor where you want the control to appear.
2. Then, click the desired icon in the Controls group of the Developer tab. The control will appear in the form.

The Legacy Tools menu contains a command to toggle shading on or off for all fields.

To remove a control, select it and then press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Form Field Options

In the case of many controls, the control is ready to go. However, if you insert a customizable item such as a drop-down list for example, you will need to tell Word what sort of content it will contain.

To set field options:

1. Click the control to select it and click Developer, then Properties.
2. The appropriate Properties dialog box will open and you can modify various aspects of the control as needed.
   1. For example, adding desired values for a drop-down list (as shown below).
   2. Dialog options may differ depending on what category and type of control you selected.
3. Click OK to save your changes.

Protecting a Form

It is recommend that you protect the form from editing by users and limit them only to the portions that need to be completed. This is also required for Legacy forms in order for them to work.To protect a form:

1. Click Developer, and then Restrict Editing.
2. From the Restrict Editing task pane, check the second box and choose “Filling in forms” from the drop-down menu.
3. Then click Yes, Start Enforcing Protection.
4. From the dialog box that appears, you can choose to protect the form using a password, which is highly recommended. However, passwords are not required; simply leave the password fields blank.
5. Click OK.

To stop protecting the form, click Stop Protection. Then, enter the password (if applicable).

An alternative option (especially for Content controls) is to select a text range and then click the Group button. This locks the text range, except in regions that contain editable content controls.

Saving Form Data

After a user completes the form, it is important to determine how the form data will be stored. There are several options to consider:

• Resave the Template File as a Word Document
• Save Form Data as a Text File
  • Open/Import in Excel
• Link to a Database

Of course, people can use Word to fill out the form on their computer and then just print it too!

To resave the template file as a word document:

1. Click File-Save As-Browse.
2. Change the file type to .docx.
3. Add the user’s initials in the file name.

To save form data as plain text:

1. Click File-Save As-Browse.
2. Then, in the Save As dialog, click Tools and then Save Options.
   
3. Click the Advanced category and check “Save form data as delimited text file.”
4. Click OK.
   
5. At the Save As dialog, choose the file name, location, and file type (if not done in
   Step #2). Ensure that the file type is set to plain text and click Save.
6. At the File Conversion dialog box, confirm that the data preview looks correct and set any advanced options.
7. Click OK.

When you open the plain text file that contains your form data, the information is in fields separated by a delimiter such as a comma. Most of the data should be quite readable. You will see checkboxes indicated as “1” for Yes and “0” for no.

To Open/Import in Excel:

Word extracts the form data typed into the form and saves the data as a .txt file as described in the above steps. Word inserts commas between the fields and Excel uses the commas to separate the data into cells.

1. Open Excel and browse for the .txt file. You may have to change the file type to All Files.
2. In Step 1 of the Text Import Wizard, select Delimited. Click Next.
3. In Step 2, choose comma as the delimiter type. Click Next.
4. In Step 3, click Finish.

To import several .txt files into a master Excel file, go to Data “Get External Data” From Text. Complete Steps 1-3 above. Finally, choose what cell should be the destination cell for the imported data.

To link to a database:

To automatically transfer data, after the form is completed, you can link the form to a database. The process for doing this requires advanced Access and Visual Basic knowledge and is beyond the scope of this blog article. Please work with your Database Administrator to setup.

—————————————————————————————————————————-

For more information about these and similar features, take a Word Class from Centriq. For course descriptions and dates, see our website at https://centriq.com/corporate/class-schedule/?q=Word.

This is the first blog article in a four-part Word series. Be sure to watch for future blog articles in this Word series. The next topic will feature Terrific Tips and then Awesome Add-ins and finally Outstanding Options. Also plan to attend a free Word Lunch and Learn on Wednesday, January 10. We will feature live demonstrations of all of the items covered during this Word blog series. If you would like to attend, CLICK HERE to register.

In addition, if you would like more information about Word or other training classes available, contact a Centriq Training Advisor online or at 913.322.7062 for assistance.