I have created a user input form in Word with lots of check boxes. The default answer in all check boxes is "no" signified by the unchecked symbol of a "cross" and the user then has to click on all check boxes where they want to change the answer to "yes" signified by the checked symbol of a "tick". I guess this is a very common use case. However, I have 2 problems: The user can only change the symbol by clicking towards the very right of the symbol / check box active area. Clicking the centre of the symbol or to the left of the symbol but still within the checkbox active area does nothing. I've hacked around with left, right, centre alignment, font sizes and everything else I can find to get it so the user can click anywhere in the checkbox area to change the symbol but to no avail. I have one user who is so frustrated by this that she has opened the developer tab and removed the check boxes from the form. To answer "Yes" to any question, she simply types the text string "yes" into the table cell! The check boxes occupy a table cell as recommended by Microsoft but I can't get the check box active area to sit perfectly within the borders of the table. Again I've hacked around with symbol font sizes and the table cell size but I just can't get the two "shapes" (the checkbox area and the table cell border) to sit perfectly over each other?

Doug has provided several suggestions that might help, but as long as you are protecting the document for forms, you will have issues with content controls.

Your comment regarding protection is NOT irrelevant as the type of Protection that you mention is ONLY designed to be used with Legacy FormFields. Further "Developer>Controls" does not identify the type of controls that you are using as Content Controls, Legacy FormField or ActiveX? are all inserted from the developer tab of the ribbon. However, I believe, from the screen shot included in one of your responses, you are using Content Controls. If you send me a copy of the document, referencing this thread in the covering email message, I will investigate the issues that you are having.

There are three types of controls in the Developer | Controls group: The ones that are shown by default (see below) are Content Controls, and if those are what you're using, then protecting the document for forms is inappropriate. But if you click the last button in the group, you get this expanded palette: The Legacy Forms controls are the ones that require protection.

Using a table is the best way to achieve a uniform layout and to prevent inadvertent changes to the layout select the table and use the Grouping facility in the Controls section of the Developer tab of the ribbon.

As Doug has requested, please let us know which of the 3 types of checkboxes you are using. In addition, if you can choose File>Options>Display , then check Show all formatting marks , create a screenshot and post it here using the Insert image tool, we will be better able to help you.

Checkbox positioning

Anonymous

I have created a user input form in Word with lots of check boxes. The default answer in all check boxes is "no" signified by the unchecked symbol of a "cross" and the user then has to click on all check boxes where they want to change the answer to "yes" signified by the checked symbol of a "tick". I guess this is a very common use case. However, I have 2 problems:

The user can only change the symbol by clicking towards the very right of the symbol / check box active area. Clicking the centre of the symbol or to the left of the symbol but still within the checkbox active area does nothing. I've hacked around with left, right, centre alignment, font sizes and everything else I can find to get it so the user can click anywhere in the checkbox area to change the symbol but to no avail. I have one user who is so frustrated by this that she has opened the developer tab and removed the check boxes from the form. To answer "Yes" to any question, she simply types the text string "yes" into the table cell!
The check boxes occupy a table cell as recommended by Microsoft but I can't get the check box active area to sit perfectly within the borders of the table. Again I've hacked around with symbol font sizes and the table cell size but I just can't get the two "shapes" (the checkbox area and the table cell border) to sit perfectly over each other?

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Suzanne S Barnhill 277.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2021-12-02T12:47:52+00:00

Doug has provided several suggestions that might help, but as long as you are protecting the document for forms, you will have issues with content controls.
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Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2021-12-02T00:32:11+00:00

Your comment regarding protection is NOT irrelevant as the type of Protection that you mention is ONLY designed to be used with Legacy FormFields.

Further "Developer>Controls" does not identify the type of controls that you are using as Content Controls, Legacy FormField or ActiveX?

are all inserted from the developer tab of the ribbon.

However, I believe, from the screen shot included in one of your responses, you are using Content Controls.

If you send me a copy of the document, referencing this thread in the covering email message, I will investigate the issues that you are having.
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2 people found this answer helpful.

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Suzanne S Barnhill 277.7K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2021-12-02T02:21:35+00:00

There are three types of controls in the Developer | Controls group:

The ones that are shown by default (see below) are Content Controls, and if those are what you're using, then protecting the document for forms is inappropriate.

But if you click the last button in the group, you get this expanded palette:

The Legacy Forms controls are the ones that require protection.
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Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2021-12-01T12:21:37+00:00

Using a table is the best way to achieve a uniform layout

and to prevent inadvertent changes to the layout select the table and use the Grouping facility in the Controls section of the Developer tab of the ribbon.
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John Korchok 232.4K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2021-12-01T01:28:23+00:00

As Doug has requested, please let us know which of the 3 types of checkboxes you are using. In addition, if you can choose File>Options>Display, then check Show all formatting marks, create a screenshot and post it here using the Insert image tool, we will be better able to help you.
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Checkbox positioning

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