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I've set up a form in Microsoft Word (365) containing a number of Rich Text Content Control inputs. I would like to add Combo box content control with values that auto-populate based on the Rich Text Content control inputs.
The image below shows the Rich Text content in the Tasks table that I'd like to draw upon for combo box values. These are shown in the "Task n Name" fields. I've shown an example of what the rich text input might look like; one or all of the task inputs may be filled.
I'd like the combo boxes in the "Task Name" field of the subsequent Subtasks table to populate based on Task name inputs from above. In this example, the dropdown values would be "OPERATIONS" and "REPORTING". Is there an easy way to accomplish this? I'm not versed in VBA, but I have colleagues that are, so if I can get some direction or examples of code that would facilitate this, I can work with them on it. Thank you so much!
Charles is correct that this requires programming. I've prepared a sample template that works, which you can download from my site at https://jay-freedman.info/TaskLists.zip .
When you unzip the template TaskList.dotm, go into its Properties dialog and check the Unblock box. Then save the file in your Templates folder, and double-click it to create a document containing copies of the tables in your post. Add some task names in the first table, and then open any of the combo boxes in the second table. The combo boxes will all contain the same list of tasks from the first table.
Open the macro editor and double-click the ThisDocument module in the TaskList project to examine the code. The comments explain each step in the macro, but be sure to ask here about anything that's confusing.
Hi Jay, I apologize for the slow response. I had to put this project aside for a couple of weeks. This was very helpful! I was able to integrate the VBA into my form; however, the code is running into an error at:
If arrTaskNames(i, 1) > 0 Then
I'm thinking that this might be because my form has more rows in both tables, but it's not readily apparent to me how to modify the code to accommodate the array that I need. (Task table has 12 rows; Subtask Table has 36 rows). Could this we by I'm seeing an error at this point? Thank you so much for your help with this! I greatly appreciate any other input you might be able to provide.
Hello again! The problem, oddly, seems to have resolved on its own without any changes to the VBA. I'm now having similar issues with another form, but I'm crossing my fingers that the same secret solution will fix it. I'm baffled, but very happy its working. Thank you for your assistance!
First question: Why Rich-Text rather than Plain Text? Plain text controls allow tabbing to the next control and are simpler.
Observation: This will require vba programming. If you are in an environment that allows macros to run, see: https://gregmaxey.com/word_tip_pages/link_content_to_dropdown_list.html.
Hi, thanks for your response! I don't make a lot of forms in Word, so I chose rich text as I thought it would provide more flexibility (and I'm clearly a newbie). You're right though, tabbing etc. appear to be much easier with plain text so I've changed all of the Task inputs to plain. I'm still struggling with how to get these to show up as options in my combo boxes though. I did look at the page you sent, but I'm unable to download the example documents unfortunately.