backspace in text form field not working.

Question

I'm having issues with word in a document I've created backspace and the return key no longer work whilst filling out text form fields whilst the document is protected. if i back space on the last letter it will only backspace once and the stop. if i place the cursor behind the second to last letter the backspace function works also if i remove protection it works and in safe mode. the return key no longer works either under the same conditions as above.

Answer 1

Hi Steven,

Thanks for sharing your experience here and we will try our best to help you.

According to your description, it seems that the password didn't work in a protected document and there is an issue related to backspace feature.

We would like to inform you that backspace will only be worked once time if you press it which is expected behavior. Or could you share the detailed description of how it should work at your end?

To help us better understand your situation, for the "return key" issue, could you share the following information when you have time:

1. As you mentioned, then return key no longer work, if it means that you can open this protect document without a password?
2. What OS you are using? Windows or Mac?
3. What Office product you are using and What's your current Office version?

The information is very helpful to us to troubleshoot your issue, appreciate your efforts.

Best Regards

Higgins

Answer 2

Selecting and deleting text will always be more tricky in a protected form field. I guess you are using text form fields with "Filling in forms" protection applied to the document?

In recent versions of Word, you may prefer to use content controls (note that they are not backward compatible with Office 2003 and older version, thoughs). See Greg Maxey's article at https://gregmaxey.com/word_tip_pages/content_control_fillin_form.html.

Answer 3

Hi Higgins, the problem i have is.. 

i created a word document that has lots of tables and boxes to fill in, in these boxes i have used text form fields so that you can tab from one box to another quickly, the document is then protected so that you can only fill in the grey (text form field) areas, some of these are references for other sections in the document. i have been using this document for around three years with no problems, until now.

Now i can fill in the text form fields whilst the document is protected but if i hit backspace (to delete a spelling mistake or typo) whilst typing it will only go back one space it then stops, i then have to remove the protection on the document to delete the rest of the word and re-protect to type. If i put the cursor behind the second to last letter in the word i want to delete and backspace it works fine. if i highlight words and and hit delete nothing happens.

once you have deleted text using the backspace key you cannot type, nothing happens you have to remove the protection from the document and then click into the text form field and type. 

like i said this has only just started to happen. I've had office removed and reinstalled and i have done a system restore (i not sure if the date of restore went back far enough) i did change settings as i had an issue with some other word documents. the last time it worked correctly was 25/03/2020 and i haven't tried to use this form until last week. The system restore only went back to May which is after when i think the issue would of started. 

I'm using windows 365 

i hope that all makes sense

Answer 4

Hi Steven,

Thanks for your updating to help us better understand your situation.

According to your description, may I confirm that if you add a Rich text Content Control from Developer and use Restrict Editing feature to protect your document?

If so, we did a test on our side again, here are my Restrict Editing settings:

The test result shows that we can fill in the text form and we can delete content use backspace like that:

Note: Space cannot be included in front of the content if you want to use backspace to delete content.

In this way, if this issue persists, please try to update your Office to the latest version and could you share your product information like that:

Looking forward to hearing from your reply.

Best Regards

Higgins

Answer 5

Hi Steven,

Please leave a reply if you need more help.

Best Regards

Higgins