Forum Discussion
How to select text in Text Form Field
I have used Word to create a form that users can fill in. I have used Legacy Forms (not ActiveX Components) because I want the form to work in older Word versions as well. Everything has worked well so far and the users have managed to fill in text as planned. Now I would like to allow all users to select, edit and comment the text that has been filled in. Here comes the problem. I cannot select a certain word or sentence. When I try to select, the selection randomly extends to the whole paragraph or the whole text that has been written in one Text Form Field. Has anyone else had the same problem? Any help on this? Thanks.
Note: I have restricted editing in the document and allowed users to “Fill in forms”. I also tried other options but the problem with selecting prevails.
I'm running version 2011 (build 13426.20404) of Office 2019.
You could try updating to the most recent channel and version. However, if you are using a corporate/organization installation of Office, you may not be allowed to do that yourself.
Generally, selecting content is a bit tricky in text form fields. What you can do is click inside a field and then hold the Shift key as you extend the selection with an arrow key.
Thanks, Stefan. I tried this but I still cannot select a single word or a sentence. But what I can do is just stop protecting the document. This is not ideal, but after this I manage to select text by right clicking inside the Text Form Field. I wish there was a way around this because some of the elements in the form do not work if the document is unprotected. For example, the Check Box Form Field does not work. Anyway, thanks for your help.
Depending on your keyboard, you may have to use Shift+Fn+Left/right arrow rather than just Shift+Left/right arrow.
