Digital Showcase - Creating Word Processing Based Forms

Will Barratt, Ph.D.
Indiana State University
willbarratt@indstate.edu

John Gallagher
Indiana State University

Posted: October, 2003 Student Affairs Online, vol. 4 no. 4 - Fall 2003

Post-secondary education is an information business. We provide information to students and from a business perspective we require information to operate. The claim has been made (Barratt, 2001) that the university is a DOS machine. The business of the campus often requires that specific instructions need to be made in a specific format and delivered to a specific office during a specific time, much like a DOS command. The format for these commands is the ubiquitous form. Paper forms are a dead technology but old technology tends to persist in spite of new technology.

A form is an efficient method for collecting and retaining specific kinds of information and is a common feature of bureaucracies. A form can also initiate a work process, for example an application form, once submitted, sets in motion a work process. Once the work process is completed the form becomes part of a paper record and is added to the appropriate paper file.

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These three elements, collecting information, initiating a work process, and retaining information, are key concepts. Post-secondary education is now in the transition period from paper forms to digital forms. Paper forms will slowly disappear as they are replaced by digital data entry, digital work processing and digital storage as web forms are used to collect and retain information in a database. For example, ACPA conference proposals are currently submitted using web forms and program reviewers access the database to complete their reviews on another web form. Sophisticated systems can use the data entry process to initiate work processes and use the completion of work processes to initiate information retention. On most campuses a paper-based form is still required to initiate work processes today.

Transforming legacy forms into word processing forms

Forms have a history and were designed to be filled out on paper. This legacy of paper-based forms is a challenge. Unfortunately many of these legacy forms were created on a typewriter, re-done in WordStar, imported into WordPerfect, then imported again into MS Word. Each generation adds problems as the form is re-formatted for each new word processing software program. Forms designed today often use the legacy paper metaphor, providing lines indicating where to write or type and not incorporating basic word processing features. Forms are filled out today using a word processor, but the form has rarely been re-designed to take advantage of word processing features.

Legacy forms present the greatest challenge because of the build-up of extra material from their multiple generations of word processing. Fortunately they are easy to update. Extraneous material should be removed from legacy forms before including Word form features and two MS Word features will make this cleaning easier. First, click on the paragraph mark (�) on the tool bar at the top of the screen. This enables the user to see document features like tabs, which show up as arrows, and spaces, which show up as dots. Both tabs and spaces are common formatting features used to create forms on a typewriter or forms designed to be used in a typewriter. Spaces don�t work well to format Word documents and should be eliminated. Because documents are formatted for the printer attached to each different computer, and because the size of each letter and space varies depending on font and printer specifications, what may look fine on one word processor screen may print poorly on someone�s printer. Tabs and indenting are the best way to format in a Word document since these use a specific distance in formatting the document. Tabs are generally set at .5 inches, but can be set at any value the user needs.

Formatting items like spaces and tabs don�t appear on the screen and don�t print but remain in the document often where a user is expected to enter information making it difficult to complete the form on a word processor. Removing extra spaces and extra tabs is the first step toward a clean document. Also make sure to remove the underlines used to indicate where information is required. While underlining helps when using a typewriter or a pen, it is not needed in a Word form intended for computer use.

The second step in cleaning a legacy document is to examine the document formatting for font consistency. Click on View > Task Pane and once the Task Pane is visible click on the small triangle on the top bar of the Task Pane and select Styles and Formatting. In the drop down menu at the bottom of the Styles and Formatting Task Pane select Formatting in use. This Task Pane window will list all formatting styles in use in the document. It is often the case that legacy forms contain multiple fonts, and occasionally legacy fonts are in sections of the document that contain no text. When completing a legacy form the user can find these added fonts annoying and difficult, making their entries appear in a different font (e.g. Courier) than the rest of the document (e.g. Times New Roman). To identify and remove a font and formatting feature place the cursor over the name of the font or formatting feature in the Task Pane that you want to eliminate, click on the triangle, click on Select all instances and then click on delete. Removing unused font and formatting features is the second step in cleaning a document.

Creating a form using Word features

With a clean legacy form or with a new document, Word features can be added to enable the form user to easily provide the needed information. As an adjunct to this article a short Word document is available that contains most of the features listed below.

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To create a form in MS Word XP:

1 Open a New document or open your legacy form that you have cleaned up.

2 Display the Forms Toolbar by clicking View > Toolbars > Forms � a checkmark should appear next to Forms menu once it has been selected. Note that you can anchor any toolbar above the document windows by click-dragging it to the toolbar area at the top of the screen.

3 Enter descriptive text and directions as usual and insert form objects as desired. On the Forms tool bar holding the cursor over the icon will bring up a description of that icon�s function.

� Text Box � allows entry of text. The text box will expand to permit multiple lines of information.

� Check Box � allows yes/no indicator to be checked by clicking on the box.

� Drop-Down Box � allows choice of pre-determined entries. When creating the form you need to specify the choices.

� You may want to insert a date and time field (Insert > Date and Time) or other field (Insert > Field > . . .) indicating when the form was created or updated.

Parameters and properties for all of these fields can be specified. After a text box has been added, right-clicking on the box and selecting Properties will allow you to specify information entry parameters like default text, length or add Help text to display. You may also access the Properties menu by double-clicking on the Text Box. Alternatively highlight the field and click on the Form Field Options on the Forms Task Bar.

Protecting the form

When finished with form development you may wish to protect it from changes by the user. Locking a form prevents changes to the form itself, yet the data fields (Text, Check Boxes, etc.) can still be changed by the form user. A locked document (clicking on the Lock icon on the Forms Toolbar) can be unlocked by anyone who knows how to use the Forms toolbar. A more secure way to lock a document is to password protect it. The form creator should go to the Menu Bar, click on Tools > Protect Document. In the window that appears click the radio button for Forms then enter a password, click the OK button. Another window will appear asking to confirm the password so re-enter the password and again click the OK button. The window also contains a warning that the password cannot be recovered if lost or forgotten so keep a copy of the password. While it is possible to hack a Word password the effort is usually beyond the everyday user. (Barratt, 2000)

Save the document as you would any other document. If you later want to edit the document, you will need to open and unlock it using the Lock icon on the Forms toolbar and the password that you assigned. Once the form has been modified you will need to again use the Tools > Protect Document feature to lock the form.

For the advanced Word and Forms user:

For some advanced users the data only from a form needs to be saved. To accomplish this and save only the data from the form:

�� Go to Tools > Options.

�� Click on the Save tab.

�� Click on the "Save data only from form" option.

�� Click the OK button.

�� Go to File > Save Copy As.

�� Enter the desired filename.

�� Save as a plain text file.

�� Click on the Save button.

�� Select text encoding.

The file will be saved as a comma-separated value (.csv) file.

References

Barratt, W., (2001, Fall). The operating system for a university. Student Affairs Online, 2(3). Retrieved from http://www.studentaffairs.com/ejournal/Fall_2001/barratt.html.

Barratt, W., (2000, Summer). Confidentiality and information technology. Student Affairs Online, 1(2). Retrieved from http://www.studentaffairs.com/ejournal/Summer_2000/art5.html.