Fillable Form Fields Allow Only 1 Character

[jlbjlb2]

I am having the same issue in creating fillable forms as in thread68-1748341. However, this thread contained no solution that worked for me. All fillable fields were created using the options available in the Developer tab.

 

[combo]

The developer tab allows to insert different text fields: text form or from legacy tools text field and activex text control. The last two allow limiting text length. What type of text field do you have?

combo

 

[macropod]

None of Word's text-entry formfields, content controls or ActiveX controls defaults to a limited length. As combo says, some text-entry fields/controls allow limiting text length, but you have to configure them to do so before it would happen.

Cheers
Paul Edstein
[MS MVP - Word]

 

[jlbjlb2]

I narrowed down the problem, by rebuilding the form field-by-field. I used several "Plain Text Content Control" fields along with a "Drop-Down List Content Control" field and a "Date Picker Content Control" Field, and when I inserted them I used the defaults, restricted the document to "Filling in forms" and started enforcing protection. All of these fields worked as I wanted them to. I then went back to each field for customization and after each step, I tested the form with protection to see if the same problem was occurring. The problem surfaced only when I checked "Remove content control when contents are edited." Apparently, this field does not do what I thought it would, which was to remove the content control once text (and by "text" I mean more than one character) was inserted. So what is the effect when a user selects that option?

 

[macropod]

It does exactly what the property says: "Remove content control when contents are edited", which means as soon as you start typing in it. And, when you do that with "Filling in forms" protection on, you delete the content control that was allowing the text entry and, with it, the ability to enter any more text.

Cheers
Paul Edstein
[MS MVP - Word]