Edit the text in a drop-down list box directly in the document

Question

Edit the text in a drop-down list box directly in the document

Anonymous

I've created a drop-down list (DDL) with several choices. I want the users to be able to edit the text in the DDL directly in the document. As it is now, the text in the DDL box can't be edited.

Just to be clear; I know how to edit the choices in the DDL in "Properties" under "Developer", so that's not what I'm asking for here.

For example:

One of the choices in the DDL is "Red house (blue fence)". I want the user to be able to pick that one and remove "(blue fence)" so the text in the document just is "Red house".

Any idea how to solve this?

Kind regards

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4 answers

Answer 1

Before that question can be answered completely, we need to know which kind of dropdown control your document uses: content control, legacy formfield, or ActiveX.

If it's a content control, the entries in a dropdown list control cannot be edited directly in the control. You can replace the dropdown list control with a combo box control. That allows the user to make a selection in the list and then edit it in the display box, or just type anything they want into the box regardless of the list entries. Alternatively, instead of changing to the combo box control, you can create a macro that asks which entry to edit and what to replace it with -- but that's no more convenient than the Properties dialog.

The legacy formfield dropdown list box is even less forgiving than the dropdown content control, because there is no combo box formfield as an alternative. If that's what you have now, I suggest changing from legacy controls to content controls and using the combo box. (The equivalent of restricting editing for formfields is to apply a Group content control around the controls and the surrounding text.)

The ActiveX controls offer a combo box but don't include a dropdown list box. The combo box defaults to allowing any entry in the display, but there is a property named "MatchRequired" that would prevent that if it is set to True instead of the default value of False.

Answer 2

Hi!

Thanks so much! It was content control I had. It works perfectly when I test with combo box.

Is it possible to change my content control to a combo box or should I just start over with a new combo box? I have added around 100 choices in my content control and it is a bit of a hassle to write it all over again.

You can't change the controls directly in the edit window, but all it takes is this tiny macro:

Sub ChangeDropdownToComboBox()
    Dim CC As ContentControl
    
    For Each CC In ActiveDocument.ContentControls
        With CC
            If .Type = wdContentControlDropdownList Then
                .Type = wdContentControlComboBox
            End If
        End With
    Next CC
End Sub

I tested to be certain, and the change of type keeps the same list items that were in the dropdown list.

Answer 3

Hi!

Thanks so much! It was content control I had. It works perfectly when I test with combo box.

Is it possible to change my content control to a combo box or should I just start over with a new combo box? I have added around 100 choices in my content control and it is a bit of a hassle to write it all over again.

Answer 4

I am assuming that your DDL is a Word drop down list content control.

You could use a ComboBox instead. That lets people add their own text.

You could edit the properties of the Dropdown Content Control to remove the Content Control when edited. Then it will be text that can be edited rather than a Content Control.

[Edit: Jay's answer, posted while I was writing this, is better.]

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Edit the text in a drop-down list box directly in the document

4 answers