and the origninal is just a piece of paper.
the problem is its a work document and I have craptacular hand writing (and some carple tunnel for added unreadable factor) my question is how do I go about creating one?
I am fairly familiar with word (I use http://www.openoffice.org/) currently) and with a couple pointers I am pretty sure I could pull this off but I honestly have no idea where to start.
the problem, with a word doc every time I enter anything the boxes and stuff would get pushed around (does that make sense?) I need a document that I can type on that doesnt alter the orginal.
what software do I need to give this a shot?
Just Word (although there are probably products that will do it better).
Create a template.
Open Word.
Select File drop-down
Select New…
You should get a pop-up window from which you can select the type of document you are creating by first selecting a category by Tab and then selecting a particular document type.
At the lower right corner of the window is a radio button labeled “Create New” defaulting to Document. Change it to Template, thewn Click OK.
Selecting a “Wizard” instead of a “Template” will provide a step-through for you to create your own.
Either modify the doc you pulled up, or open Help to figure out how you’d like to set it up.
Basically, the documents are fixed text with Macros inserted where you want to be able to insert new text without messing up the rest of the page. Clicking on one of the variable entries, Right-Clicking, and selecting “Toggle Field Codes” will display the macro that is currently inserted on the example template.
When you have it created, be sure to specify “Template” when you perform your “Save as…”
(If you want to scan an existing document and turn that into a template, you can scan it to a Word document, then insert the appropriate Macros, saving it, again, as a Template.)
Adobe does this, (with its share of defenders and detractors), but you appear to have Word and I don’t know that you have (or want) Adobe.
much and many thanks, this is pretty much exactly what I needed.
I love this board
In Word, you can also create a document with form fields, and then protect the document. You’d have a field for say, the date, an address, a monetary amount, and so on. You tab to each open field and type in the new data, but people using the form can’t alter the original, only fill in the blanks. (Unless they learn to click that little ‘unlock’ button, but I don’t show them that button.)