Microsoft Word form - Preserving “lines” to type on instead of underscoring and underlining

Question

We've got a form that somebody created in Microsoft Word 2007. As an example, it would look something like this:

Name: ____________________________

Where the "line" is created by somebody typing in underscores.

Now when somebody goes to type in their name, it ends up looking something like:

Name: ________Matt________________________________

and maybe even wraps to the next line. So the logical thing for a user to do would be to underline their name and delete some of the underscores.

But that is obviously a pain. Is there a way to create "lines" that a user can just type on that don't change the length of the line and keep the underlining/underscoring under what they've typed?

I can change the form - I just don't know how.

Answer 1

There are two possible ways to do this:

1. Use a 1x1 table and remove the borders except the bottom border. This will allow people to type in the empty table without shifting text around. The limitation is that the 1x1 table must be on its own line.

2. The preferred option is to use the Developer ribbon (enable Word Options - Popular - Enable Developer...). Then under the controls, insert a text box. You can then edit the font of the text box to add and underline. You can find more information about this method on Microsoft's web site here.

Answer 2

This is not really all that possible using obvious methods (without hacks and work arounds) because Word is a word processor, not a forms-application.

However, you will be able to achieve something very similar to what you are after. Check out Create forms that users complete in Word from Microsoft for a detailed way of creating a form in Microsoft Word 2007. Here is a little summary:

You can create a form in Microsoft Office Word 2007 by starting with a template and adding content controls, including text boxes, date pickers, and drop-down lists. Other people can use Office Word 2007 to fill out the form on their computer. In an advanced scenario, any content controls that you add to a form can also be linked to data.

You can also create a form by starting with a sample template. Many are available on the Microsoft Office Online Web site.

Basically, what it gets you do do is to enable the Developer tab:

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Word Options.
2. Click Popular.
3. Select the Show Developer tab in the Ribbon check box, and then click OK.
   NOTE: The Ribbon is a component of the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface.

And then insert text boxes into a document, using a table to keep it all aligned.

The help article I linked to actually goes into great detail on how to create, prepare and distribute your form.

Answer 3

There actually is a way to create a line that can be typed over without the line moving, and without using table cells or fields. It is done with underlining and tab characters. Underlining is a built in method for placing lines under words. The problem is that you can't underline a space. There must be something in the space or you can't turn underlining on. This is where tabs comes in. Place three tab characters in the ruler: a left tab where you want the line to start, a center tab at what will be the middle of the line, and a left tab where you want the line to end. Now click in the location of the first tab and hit the tab key twice. This inserts two hidden tab characters (small arrows) into the blank space where the line is to go. Once they are inserted, you can highlight the space by dragging over it with the mouse.

Now click the underline icon and the space will be underlined. To add text, click in the MIDDLE of the line (the location of the middle tab character) and start to type. Your words will float right over top of the line, and remain centered within the line space. If you need multiple such lines and want to be able to tab from one to the other, click in the MIDDLE of each line and insert a text field. Once the document is protected, you can tab from line to line and the lines will remain the same size no matter the size of the words. (The exception being if the words are longer than the space in which case the line will grow to match.)

Answer 4

You can also click on Insert, choose shape, and pick the line. That will allow you to type on top of the line and backspace without affecting the line itself.