Ever had to fill in a form electronically to apply something?

Here is the scenario:

You open must apply electronically for something
You download a Microsoft Word document
You open it and see that the document contains 'greyed-out fields' that you can only replace, write before or after, or double-click and change their default value

I was in that situation a couple of times over the past few years and couldn't find how to write in those fields. I ended up either giving up by printing the document and filling it out manually, or replacing the grey fields with normal text.

Googling and using Microsoft Word help wasn't any helpful as the only search/help result consisted in tutorials explaining how to create the fill-in forms.

Any idea how to persuade Word to let me fill-in these fields?

bounav

Posted 2009-10-23T13:45:40.403

Reputation: 671

Follow-up question: how come none of those tutorials for creating forms in Word include these instructions for actually enabling the forms?! – Doug – 2019-03-29T12:09:05.133

1Did you open the file with macros enabled? If they're not enabled you can't write in those fields. – alex – 2009-10-23T13:53:04.917

Answers

Just cracked the mistery!!!

In word 2007:

Click on the office logo (top left hand corder of the word window)
Click on word options
In the popular section, check Show developer tab in the ribbon (or in the customize ribbon section, tick the 'developer' tab under 'main tabs')
Now on the ribbon, select the Developer tab
Click on the Protect document icon/button, a new inspector/sidebar should appear on the right side of the screen
In the inspector/sidebar, in the 2. section, check Allow only this type of editing in the document, then chose Filling in forms in the drop down list immediately bellow.
Press the Yes, start enforcing protection button and provide a password when asked.

This is probably one of the greatest (and well hidden!) great feature of word. Once you set your password, only somebody that knows your password can chage what you entered in the grey-out field!

I really wonder why the microsoft office team took so much effort in hidding that great feature!

Hope this helps!

bounav

Posted 2009-10-23T13:45:40.403

Reputation: 671

On Mac Office 2016 idolize's solution did not work. The Restrict Permission already said No Restrictions and there was no other option. The only thing I could do was double-click and change the default value. – Leo – 2017-04-21T13:25:57.870

1@Leo The solution from idolize works for me in Word 2016. The button is now labeled "Protect" or "Protect Document". Once the inspector opens, you have to tick the "Protect document for:" box before you can select "Forms". – Chad von Nau – 2017-06-05T22:05:12.933

The password is optional. You don't have to use one if you use case doesn't require it. – TheCrazyProgrammer – 2018-11-18T11:59:52.320

3For those who are using Office:Mac 2011 - you can find this option by going to the "Review" tab and clicking the "Document" button under the "Protection" category and then selecting "Forms" as the protection level. – idolize – 2013-07-02T01:46:37.313

For Office 2010:

Select File > Protect Document > Restrict Editing

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Click "Yes, Start Enforcing Protection" after ensuring "Filling in Forms" is selected as the Editing Restructions. No password is required (it should have been set by the author - it is required to get back in to edit mode).

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