Word help S.O.S!!!

boogyboogy

Hey would anyone know how to create a dependancy in a word file?Well i think thats what it is called as in if you choose an option from a drop down list then the following options in the next drop down list depend upon the first option!

Thomas_S_Hunterson

MS Word is really for making documents, not to be hacked together as an interface for something.

Depending on what exactly you want to do, I'd imagine there is more suitable software.

What you want to do is possible, I think, but a bit complex.

Perhaps you could provide more details.

boogyboogy

well its a form document in word with a table in it, now I have to make certain options available depending on previous options made in the table........if that makes it any easier!!!:o

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Ok so if I'm picking you up right, you're in a professional environment and you're making a form, to be used by your colleagues, which they will have to fill out on computer and then print out?

boogyboogy

yup

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Ok well there's a couple of ways I'd consider doing this.

The quickest and easiest, IMO, would be Excel. I don' think it's ideal but it's better than Word.

You design your form on the first worksheet. All cells are read only apart from the ones the user will have to edit. On other worksheets you have your tables of data. This data can be looked up directly from the first worksheet using the conditional functions and VLOOKUP() and HLOOKUP(). So based on what the user enters, excel would look up further data in the tables.

You'd save the document as strictly read only in a single place from which all users access it (this is so you can upgrade it if needs be, tell users not to store copies on their hard-drive). The users would open it, enter their details, print it, and then close it.

This method might suffer a bit in terms of scalability but if you're a small organisation it shouldn't be a problem, and it completely avoids the hassle of messing around with actual databases.

/edit: Alternatively, I think Microsoft InfoPath might be worth looking into. I've never used it, but I believe it may serve the function you are looking for and it integrates well with the rest of the Office suite.

boogyboogy

Thanks for the help bud!