Is there a way to make text selected via drop-down field be repeated throughout a document?

Question

Basically, I have a drop-down list content control with two possible values, Apple and Orange. When I select either one of them, I want that word to be repeated throughout the document.

Until now, what I used to achieve a similar role are quick parts - document property. But, that only works for words or values that I manually write or copy.

What I want though, is instead of manually changing the word, to have a way of just selecting the word from a drop-down and have it repeated.

Having tinkered in Excel a lot lately, a parallel I can draw here is a data validation drop-down menu in one cell, lets say A2 and have another cell, lets say B4, just =A2.

Answer 1

You can do this for a dropdown list content control in Word 2013, without coding, as long as you are in a position to use one of the predefined Cover Page Properties.

Another consideration is that Content controls only work properly on Windows versions of Word. If you need your document to work on Mac Word 2011 or 2016 you have to work with the legacy forms controls.

Steps:

• In the Developer tab, display the XML Mapping Pane.
• In the dropdown in that pane, select "http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/coverPageProps" . You should see a short list starting with "PublishDate".
• Select your dropdown.
• Select one of the properties, say "CompanyEmail".
• Right-click the property name and select "Map to Selected Content Control"
• To insert a copy of the dropdown value, select the appropriate location in your document, right-click on the property name again, and select Insert Content Control->Plain Text.

You may want to make the control read-only. You can make further copies by copying/pasting that control.

If you can't use the built-in property names - e.g. they are already being used by a cover page in the document - you would have to do some coding. One way is to use some VBA code to insert your own Custom XML Part, in which case you can either do the mapping in VBA or using the above procedure, but mapping to your part. A web search should lead you to information on how to do that. The other way is to modify the XML content of the .docx file (which is also "coding" IMO, and probably less well-documented).

Answer 2

Create the drop down with the legacy forms menu. Within drop-down field options, add your items for the list, make note of the Bookmark: name, then make sure both check-boxes are selected. Click OK.

Within you document, add a reference to the drop-down by inserting a Cross-reference from the Insert tab. Choose the Reference type: as bookmark, the Insert reference to:, and select the bookmark you want as follows.

Now protect the document with editing restrictions to Fill in forms.

Now make a selection from the drop-down and press Tab to update the fields.