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.
- Click the File tab.
- Select Options.
The Word Options window opens.
- Click the Customize Ribbon tab on the left.
The column on the right controls which ribbon tabs are enabled.
- Check the Developer check box.
- 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.
- Place the text cursor where you want to insert the form field.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Click the Restrict Editing button on the Developer tab.
The Restrict Editing pane appears on the right.
- Check the Editing restrictions check box.
- Click the Editing restriction list arrow.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
155
155 people found this article helpful
How to Create a Fillable Form In Word for Windows
Use Word to make custom interactive forms
Updated on January 3, 2021
What to Know
- To add a fillable object, place the cursor where you want it and go to Developer tab > control type > click on page.
- To add the Developer tab, go to File > Options > Customize Ribbon > Main Tab > Developer > OK.
This article explains how to create a fillable form document in Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2019, 2016, 2013, and 2010.
How to Add the Developer Tab in Microsoft Word
The form data you create can include the option to choose a date, mark a checkbox, select Yes or No, and more. Before you can configure these controls, you must add the Developer tab to Microsoft Word as they are called. You can create and configure any form data using this tab.
-
Select File from the top menu.
-
Then, choose Options.
-
Select Customize Ribbon.
-
In the right pane of the dialog of Customize Ribbon part, choose Main Tabs.
-
Check the box for Developer.
-
Press OK.
How to Create a Fillable Form in Word with a Checkbox
There are several types of fillable form options in Word. These are called “Controls”. The options are in the Controls group on the Ribbon. You can include a checkbox, date selection box, a combo box with choices you create, drop-down lists, and more. These controls are on the Developer tab.
To create a basic fillable form in Word by providing a checkbox:
-
Type the text to apply the checkbox. Examples include:
- “Opt into promotional emails”.
- “I agree to the terms stated in this document”.
- “I have completed all tasks”.
-
Select the Developer tab.
-
Place your cursor at the beginning of the sentence you’ve written.
-
Select the Check Box Content Control that adds a check mark. (It has a blue checkmark on it.)
-
Choose somewhere else in the document to apply it.
To remove any fillable entry, right-click it and choose Remove Content Control. Then use the Delete key on the keyboard to delete anything remains. In some instances simply clicking Delete will suffice.
How to Make a Form in Word with a Date Control
You add a Date Control from the Developer tab to enable users to select a date from a pop-up calendar that appears when they click the control.
To add a Date Control fillable form entry:
-
Place your cursor in the document where you’d like to add the Date Control.
-
Select the Developer tab.
-
Choose the Date Picker Content Control entry for inserting a date control.
-
Select somewhere outside the new entry to apply it.
How to Make a Form in Word for a Combo Box
If you want to have users choose something from a list that you provide, you use a Combo Box. After you create the box using the Developer tab options, you then access the Properties options for it to enter the available choices. In this example you will create a drop-down list for a party invitation, with options including Yes, No, Maybe.
To create a Combo Box to Make a Form in Word:
-
Write a sentence that will precede the options you’ll provide. Examples include:
- “Will you attend the party?”
- “Will you be bringing a dish to the party”
-
Select the Developer tab.
-
Place the cursor in the document where you want the options to appear.
-
Select the Combo Box Content Control icon. (It’s generally located to the right of the blue checkbox icon.)
-
On the Developer tab, in the Controls section, choose Properties.
-
Press Add.
-
Type Yes, and press OK.
-
Press Add.
-
Type No, and press OK.
-
Press Add again.
-
Type Maybe, and press OK.
-
Make any other changes (if desired).
-
Press OK.
-
Select somewhere outside the box to apply it; select inside the box to see how it works.
There are other types of form options you can create in Word. When experimenting with these, you’ll generally work in this order:
-
Type an introductory sentence or paragraph.
-
Place the cursor where you want the new control to go.
-
Choose the control from the Controls group on the Developer tab (hover your mouse over any control to see its name).
-
If applicable, select Properties.
-
Configure properties as necessary for the control you’ve selected.
-
Press OK.
Thanks for letting us know!
Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day
Subscribe
Basic rules: Create the form using the forms toolbar. Protect it. Here’s the
details…
First, you need the Forms toolbar. Turn it on by going to View Toolbars Forms.
Here’s the Forms toolbar, let’s get to know it better.
I have never used the tables or frame tools here, so I don’t
explain them. However, I do strongly recommend tables to create forms whenever
your forms are laid out in «boxes».
From left to right, here’s the buttons we’re reviewing. The
options dialog boxes are accessed by double-clicking the field, or by hitting
the Form Field Options button.
Text Form Field
This inserts a field designed for text entry. You can format it
for other things by double-clicking it, or by hitting the Form Field Options
icon. Change the type drop-down to a desired field type, such as a number or
date. You can set a maximum number of characters to be entered for items like
account numbers. You can choose Date as the type, and change the Text format to
read Sunday, June 19, 2005 instead of 6/19/2005.
You can also set a bookmark name here. Leave it as the default
Text# or change it to something meaningful, such as CoName. Then, when you later
want the Company name to appear again without making the user type it again, you
can create a
reference to the bookmark. If you plan to use the values entered in these
text form fields later in calculations, please check the Calculate on exit box!
Doing so makes your calculation field update as the values on which it is
dependent are entered.
Check Box Form Field
I don’t think I’ve ever checked these options out before, but
here they are. Unfortunately, checkboxes don’t work like option buttons do. If
you place multiple checkboxes, then multiple checkboxes can be chosen. If you
want only one checkbox to be chosen, you need Office VBA:
Macros You Can Use Today, which contains a macro by
Cindy Meister that
you can use, or you need to use Option buttons from the Control
Toolbox. Either option requires macro code.
Drop-Down Form Field
Drop-Downs are very cool and extremely easy to make. The only
drawback is that you’re limited to 25 entries, so you can’t use it for days of
the month or to list the US states.
Tip: To defeat the 25-item limit, try
separating your items into groups, such as east and west or 1 to 7, 7 to 14,
etc., or see this Microsoft KB Entry
http://support.microsoft.com/Default.aspx?kbid=306258
Tip: If you don’t want an item chosen by
default (or perhaps you want your form to be «blank» for printing), enter spaces
in the Drop-down item box to create a «blank» item, just make sure you move it
to the top.
Protect the Form
This button is used to test your form while you create it.
Protect the form to see how your form fields will work. Unprotect to continue
building your form.
Final Protection
You don’t have to use it, but I recommend it. When your form is
completely built and you’re ready to distribute it, choose Tools Protect
Document from the menu to bring up the Protect Document task pane. Choose
Editing restrictions, and Filling in forms.
You may only want to
protect certain
areas of your document. Once you’re done, hit the Yes, Start Enforcing
Protection button and (we highly recommend) enter a password.
More Tips
-
For best results, create your forms in tables. Place the label
in one cell and the form field in another cell next to it. -
To restrict entry to a certain amount of space, insert a
one-row, one-column table, and set the row height to «Exactly».
Did you know that you can create forms in Word that people can fill out? When you hear about fillable forms, it is almost always related to Adobe and PDF documents because that’s the most popular format.
However, Word is also quite a powerful tool and you can use it to quickly create forms that you can either print or send via email, etc. If you need to create a survey that will go out to many people and you want all the responses tallied for your automatically, it might be best to use Google Docs to create the survey.
In this article, I’ll show you how to create a form with text boxes, check boxes, a date picker and a list box. You can also make your forms a lot better looking if you use tables to organize everything.
Enable Developer Tab
By default, you can’t create forms in Word unless you enable the Developer tab in the ribbon. Since it’s not used by a lot of people, Microsoft disabled it by default. To enable the tab, click on File and then Options.
On the left-hand side, click on Customize Ribbon and then check the Developer box in the right-hand list box.
Click OK and click on the tab in the ribbon. The section we are most interested in is Controls.
Creating a Form in Word
The Controls section has about eight different controls that can be added to your Word document: Rich Text, Plain-Text, Picture, Building Block Gallery, Checkbox, Combo Box, Drop-Down List, and Date Picker.
To insert a control, just click on it and it will appear wherever your cursor was located. In my example below, I created a table and added two plain-text boxes for first name and last name.
By default, each control has its own filler text. For a plain text control, it is Click or tap here to enter text. You can edit this text for any control by clicking on the Design Mode button that is to the right of the control icons.
You’ll see some blue placeholders appear on the left and right of any controls you have added to your document. Select the text and change it to whatever you like. Click on the Design Mode button again to exit the mode.
Next, click on your newly added control so that it is highlighted and then click on Properties, which is directly below the Design Mode button. Each control will have a standard set of options with custom options at the bottom based on what type of control it is.
Here you can give the control a title, change the color, style the text and specify whether or not the control can be edited or deleted. At the very bottom are the control specific options, which for the case of a plain text control, is whether you want to allow multiple lines or not. That last option is useful if you need someone to type in a paragraph of text.
So what’s the difference between a plain-text control and a rich text control? Well, not much. In a rich text control, you can change the font/color settings for each word individually, whereas the plain-text control will apply the formatting to all the text. You would think the plain-text control would not allow bold, font changes or color changes, but it does.
Next, I went ahead and added a drop down list control to my form. You’ll see it says Choose an item and that’s it. In order to add items to the list, you have to click on Properties.
Click the Add button and then type in a name for your choice. By default, the Display Name and Value will be the same, but you can change it if you like. There really is no reason to change the value unless you are writing Word macros and refer to the controls in code.
Once you have added all your choices, go ahead and click OK and you’ll now be able to select the options from the drop-down list.
The only difference between the dropdown list control and the combo box control is that the latter allows the user to enter their own value if they please. In the dropdown list, you have to choose from one of choices in the list. In the combo box, you can either choose from the list or type in your own value.
The date picker control works just like any date picker you have probably used on airline booking sites, etc. When you click on it, a calendar appears and you can simply click on the date to select it.
If you click on the Properties button, you’ll see that there are quite a few options for the date picker control.
You can choose a different format to display the date and choose a different calendar type. The picture control is another nice option that will allow users to insert a picture easily.
When the user clicks on the image, a dialog will appear where they can choose a picture from their computer, from Bing image search or from OneDrive. They also have options for Facebook and Flickr.
Now let’s add a few checkboxes to our document. Note that when you add a checkbox and try to type text into it, it will tell you that the selection is locked. I believe this is by design. You have to click next to the checkbox and then type in your text.
Lastly, you can insert a building block control, which lets you pick content from Quick Parts and AutoText. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out my post on how to use AutoText and Quick Parts in Word. In my example, I added some quotes to a custom AutoText and then linked the control to it via the Properties dialog.
Once you have all the controls in your document the way you want, it might be a good idea to protect the document so that user can only fill out the form fields and that’s it. To do this, click on Restrict Editing on the Developer tab.
In the pane that shows up on the right, click on the dropdown under Editing restrictions and choose Filling in forms. Make sure to check the Allow only this type of editing in the document box.
Click Yes, Start Enforcing Protection and then enter a password if you like. Now only the form fields will be editable and everything else locked/protected. The user can easily use the TAB key to move between the different form fields.
Overall, Word isn’t the greatest tool for making forms, but it’s decent and probably more than enough for most people. If you have any questions, feel free to comment. Enjoy!