How to change the text of a form field text box on entry of that text box

Question

I am trying to change the text of a form field text box when it is entered into. I selected to run a macro on entry, but I can't seem to change it dynamically for all my fields using that macro. There are hundreds of fields which are removed and added dynamically, so setting a bookmark for every one of them is not an option as specified in this question answer MS Word Document Form - Check Value of Text Form Field on Exit

Is there any way to access the form field on entry so I can change it when they enter it?

I have tried changing it by bookmark, but again this isn't an option for me:

ActiveDocument.FormFields(Selection.Bookmarks(1).Name).Result = "my value"

I have tried Selection.FormFields(1)...etc but it does not let me access this on entry. Any other ways?

I am wanting to access the form field on entry to change the value, but cannot figure out how to do it!

Cindy Meister Cindy Meister · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-11T05:15:53

Every form field has a bookmark and a name, by default. They're generated by Word when the form field is inserted and the names for text fields follow the pattern Text1, Text2, and so on.

While Selection doesn't return the form field when an "On Enter" macro is triggered it does return the bookmark. Through that, it's possible to get the bookmark name and from there access the form field. So:

Sub WriteValueToFormFieldOnEnter()
    Dim bkm As Word.Bookmark
    Dim ffldName As String, ffld As Word.FormField

    If Selection.Bookmarks.Count > 0 Then
        Set bkm = Selection.Bookmarks(1)
        ffldName = bkm.Name
        Set ffld = ActiveDocument.FormFields(ffldName)
        ffld.result = "New"
    End If    
End Sub

Note: If the form fields have no bookmark name because they were copied/pasted within the same document, then names have to be assigned to the form fields. (Bookmark names must be unique within a document, which is why this happens.) The following code loops the formfields in a document and assigns those with no name a name.

While the Language Reference for FormField.Name states

Returns a String that represents the result of the specified form field. Read/write.

writing to this property causes an error (at least in Word 2010 and newer, perhaps also in older versions). So it's necessary to work with the Word UI's Form Field Properties dialog box.

Sub NameUnnamedFormFields()
    Dim ffld As Word.FormField
    Dim rng As Word.Range
    Dim tbCounter As Long, cbCounter As Long, ddCounter As Long

    tbCounter = 1: cbCounter = 1: ddCounter = 1
    For Each ffld In ActiveDocument.FormFields
        If Len(ffld.Name) = 0 Then
            ffld.Select
            With Application.Dialogs(wdDialogFormFieldOptions)
                Select Case ffld.Type
                    Case wdFieldFormTextInput
                        .Name = "myText" & CStr(tbCounter)
                        tbCounter = tbCounter + 1
                    Case wdFieldFormCheckBox
                        .Name = "myCheckBox" & CStr(cbCounter)
                        cbCounter = cbCounter + 1
                    Case wdFieldFormDropDown
                        .Name = "myDropDown" & CStr(ddCounter)
                        ddCounter = ddCounter + 1
                    Case Else
                        MsgBox "Unknown form field type."
                End Select
                .Execute
            End With
        End If
    Next
End Sub

How to change the text of a form field text box on entry of that text box

1 Answers