Drop down list help

[georgedaws]

Hi,

this is my first post and I hope someone can help.

I have created a drop down list with the words appearing as: are
are not

All good there, trouble is with the "are not" words coming out bold. When I bookmark this and allocate a field to that bookmark, no problem. I make that bookmarked field bold. When I run the dropdown list the "are" word mirrors as bold but only the "are" part of the "are not" choice shows as bold.

The drop down list is fine. It all comes out bold. It's the "not" word that comes out normal. When I highlight the bookmarked field it turns bold, (turn back on file protection) and back to how it was!

Can the drop down field only have single words that will show bold?

Please God, I don't want to go down the activex road!!


I am probably being a numpty!


Thanks.

[Gary Frieder]

Hi,

Welcome to the Lounge! Some questions to start:

• Which version of Word are you using?
• Which type of dropdown are you using? (If you're using Word 2003, are you using the dropdown from the Forms toolbar?)
• What type of field are you allocating to the bookmark?
• Is the mixed bold/not bold showing in the dropdown, or in the field somewhere else in the document?
• Would it be possible to post a small sample document (stripped of any sensitive content) which shows the problem?

Gary

[georgedaws]

Hi,

thanks for your reply,

I am using 2010. I have attached a sample to look at. It's not password protected.

Thanks.

[Gary Frieder]

Sometimes direct formatting (like the bold applied to the Ref field here) can act flaky. Try the following: unprotected the form, select the Ref field and apply the built-in 'Strong' character style to that text. That appears to enforce that both words stay bold.

But another question: Do you want the content in that field to update, depending on what is selected in the dropdown?

Gary

[Gary Frieder]

OK, looks like there are two mistakes in my last response!
1) Your sample document only contained one formfield (the dropdown), but as soon as you add another one so you can exit the dropdown, then the Ref field does of course calculate.
2) Once I add another formfield so that the Ref field can update, I get the same issue you do, where the word "not" via the Ref field loses its bold - doesn't matter whether a style is applied to it or not.

So, sorry at the moment, I can't suggest a solution.

Gary

[jscher2000]

Well, one approach might be to use an IF field for the "not" so it can be formatted separately. You would use the IF field to interrogate the form control (compare the REF result with a known result) and output the word not (plus a space) or nothing. The IF field would be bolded. Of course, I haven't actually tested that, but is it enough information to do a test?

Edit: I may have misinterpreted what you want, so if this isn't useful, never mind.

[georgedaws]

Thanks for your replies folks. It is a bit bizarre that the update field cannot produce both words a bold!

I have, for now got round it by.. going down the combo box route and have produced the list from there.

It was just such a long way to go round it. I am no vba man by any stretch of the imagination!

Thanks again though, and I will try the "IF" way and post back.

[Andrew Lockton]

I think the solution to this problem is the Mergeformat switch in your crossref field. Change that word to Charformat and both words become bold.

Looking at the field options in Word 2010 doesn't help you work this out as far as I can tell but you can do a search on this forum for old posts where the differences are discussed.

[georgedaws]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for your reply and your help. To be honest with you, I would not have been able to find it under my own steam if you hadn't spoke of Mergeformat or Charformat. I will look at the old posts to do some learning!

Thanks again

[Gary Frieder]

Thanks Andrew - Charformat does the trick.

Gary