Filling in forms: What used to be simple, in 2000, now confusion in 2010. There has to be a simple way?

I should mention that I already had been using the Developer tab...  The part of the help file that I find lacking is beyond that.

For example....there is an item on the customize area, for "lock field".    What is the trick for getting context sensitive help for that, explicitly.   Often, in this kind of situation, I feel like I should hit F1, but this no longer works.   And often, I find that if i type the matter/item of interest, into the help box search box, I get nothing, as was the case here, with "lock field"

I thank you for your suggestion.

It sounds like you are suggesting that I create a template, and set a QAT for each template/document, rather than me just selecting a toolbar?

And I know that the MVPs that chime in to support the products are not the reason all these issues happen, and their efforts are appreciated....

However....

Sadly, as is typical of MS Product lines, now, the information on legacy was not readily available in the help file.  I spent 1.5 hours trolling around it to no end.  It is really terrible.

Also, regrettably typical for MS Products and software, since I first started using them back when FoxPro disappeared as a stand alone entity, and though and including all current MS Products and product lines [Office, VB, Server...etc.]...

There is a propensity for MS to "recommend" usage patterns, instead of designing the software to be usable.

Example.... I can put a Lock button on the QAT, or on my own tab on the ribbon, but accessing them requires excessive mouse clicks.   Unless I leave my Ribbon tab exposed and do no other function on the ribbon, that is.   Now, I can't make non-relevant tools disappear -- with the QAT its all or nothing.   With the ribbon, its everything, always, or nothing, and nothing accessible.  

With toolbars, I could plop it on top, to the side, anywhere appropriate.   In 2000, if I wrote a pleading, I could by a single mouse click:  access buttons attached to macros on a legal toolbar, macros that renumbered pleadings, and a host of other functions.   No more.  I'm sorry to say this, but MS has a long, long history of creating functionality that forces my workflow to be adjusted, instead of aiding workflow.   Why do I have to think like MSGroupThink?

Really: Read the licensing material on Ribbons and Runtimes:  They didn't want a toolbar that helps users, and did want a ribbon bar they could use as a marketing ploy and to assert an intellectual property right.

Example.... MS thinks I should have to re-load a 'new' copy of a template document each time I want to rewrite the contents of the form?  Am I hearing you right?   During the course of a day, while in the field, I might use a template 10-20 times an hour.   Reload?  Close and existing open a template.  Why does MS get to manage my workflow.   OO doesn't.  Mozilla doesn't.

And the alternative....create templates, and attach macros to them, explicity?  what if I have 20 templates that come and go each season?   Or, a collection of annoying steps to attach macros to their QAT?

Example.... I can't one click clear, anymore.   If I want to do it now, I have to write a macro [tho macro recording shuts off, now, with the protect function, something that used to NOT happen.  Now, I have to LOOK UP the context for commands, instead of just recording a macro.   Now I have to write a macro to do what was simply accomplished, before.  Why ?  because MS has a recommended work flow pattern, rather than giving me the tools to assist my work. 

Example.... Toolbars had been context sensitive by  user command, not MS fiat

Example.... I regularly use Excel to create flow diagrams for work processes, or to create, for planning, or for collecting information on major loss events.  Why Excel [or Quattro, for that matter?]   It has the flow diagram tools, arrows and etc.   I could bring on the drawing tool bar, and set it at the bottom, or side, and keep working with speed.  No interruptions in my workflow, just to bold something, or access some other item on some other tool bars.   Now, I have to click around, and then click back.  Thanks MS for making my life more complicated to preserve your intellectual property

You can use the legacy forms controls in Word 2007 (and I assume in 2010 as well). You must first show the Developer tab in the Ribbon (in Word 2007, the check box is at Office Button | Word Options | Popular); the Legacy Forms controls are part of the Legacy Tools in the Controls group on that tab. Note that the palette doesn't include the Lock button, but you can add this to the QAT.

One difference is that, beginning in Word 2002, I think, unprotecting and reprotecting the form using the Lock button doesn't clear the data; using Tools | Protect/Unprotect Document does. The recommended way to get a new form is to make the form a template and create a new document based on it rather than keep reusing the same document.

Start recording a macro, to turn on document protection, hit "Yes, start enforcing", and that step turns off the recording.   You can't do it.

I should mention:

I can manage to set all the text box controls to red type, to at least highlight them, and if I use the mouse to select the first control, I can tab from one to the next, skipping intermediate content, but I can't protect/unprotect the form, easily , I can't empty the text boxes [though I can rely on the 'select' to type in spaces, on 20 of 25 blanks spots...not helpful, MS...]

And whatever happened to context sensitive help.  Go to the Content Control Properties, andthe worsthelp system comes up.    What's the trick to getting help on a single check box, so I can explain to someone else what it does, without endless experimenting.  Thisterrible help system is pervasive office 2010.  Worse, whatever help you do get is not specific to the office application being used. 

I feel like I have been duped, as MS placed a funky GUI and more over what are obviously the existing OfficeSystem object dialogs.