MS Word: Changing the Format of a Form Field Without Changing its Value

Question

I have a document with text form fields that have already been filled in with values. They are formatted as type "number" with the number format "0".

I want to change all the fields with the number format "0" to be formatted as "#,##0". However, when I try to click one and change this (in "Form Field Options"), it resets any text in the field to its default value.

Is there any way I can change the field's number format without removing the value that has been manually entered in the field?

Answer 1

I don't think so. Changing the format resets the field to avoid invalid data entry, because it's easier from Word's point of view.

I suppose you could automate the process with a macro that iterates through all the fields, copies the existing value to a variable, changes the format and copies the value back, but that's quite a lot of work, and it may be simpler to just do this manually.