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Jonathan KaplanFlag for United States of America

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Name field in a DOT

I would like to make a contract template that has a place for a name to be filled in and have that name propagated to other fields in the same document, so it can be printed and saved as a unique document. The articles all seem convoluted. Can anyone supply a simple method/checklist?  Thanks
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GrahamSkan
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There isn't a foolproof, best, way to do that.

The traditional way is to bookmark the position and to put REF fields where you want the data to be reproduced.Have you tried that?
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I saw that solution, but the syntax of each is unclear. Can you provide an examle?
Try it this way:

I guess that you are using Word 2003 or earlier, so some of this is from memory.

Type some pilot text in and select it.
Then do Insert, Bookmark, and choose a bookmark name.
Then for each place that you want the text to be replicated: select it,  Insert, Field, choose REF field and find the bookmark name from the list.

The disadvantage of this method is that it is easy to overwrite the bookmark when entering the name

If this is likely to be a problem, the next choice is to use form fields. To work, the document must be protected, and form fields be placed wherever text is to be entered. If you want to try that, show the Forms toolbar. It has icons for the three types of form field control and a quick lock/unlock button. By default, form fields have a bookmark name, so any REF fields can refer to that name.
Using Form fields seems a better way to go, but I can't figure out a way to name the form field so the REF field will refer it. Also,  do you use F9 to update the REF fields once the form field is filled in? Finally, I don't see a protect button on the Forms toolbar.
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GrahamSkan
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I was able to find the place to name the form field in the propeerties dialogue for the field, but when I inserted a REF field elsewhere, the name did not show up on the name list and when I manually added the name as a switch to REF, the error msg "Reference source not found" appeared. Also, I did not see the recalculate command in the properties dialogue.
I don't really know why this should be.

Can you post your test document, so we can see where and what is going wrong?
Your document has an ActiveX textbox, rather than a Form Field. ActiveX controls were primarily designed for Windows forms and come as a part the Forms 2.0 package used to create VBA userforms. The name of that sort of control is not a bookmark. They are added from the Control Toolbox toolbar.

Form fields are intrinsic to Word and can only be used on Word documents. You should be using the Forms toolbar.
OK, Got it to work this time, but The REF fields only recalculated when I right clicked on it and chose"recalculate"  I had the properties sheet " recalculate on exit" checked (Does that mean "exit the field or exit the document?). F9 did not work , either.
It means Exit the field. It works when the document is protected and you move to another Form field.
Got it. Now it's working the way it should.  Thanks a bunch, Graham Skan