Populating Fields in a Table Based on a Dropdown in Word

Question

Hi - 

I am trying to create a form in Word.  We have 3 project types: AIA, Federal, and Other.  Based on the dropdown in the selection, I want to fill a table with the phases.  Military would be: Type A-1, Type A-2, Type B-1, Type B-2, and Type B-3.  AIA would be Programming, SD, DD, CDs, Bidding, and CA.  I want to select the type and then for the table to fill the phase names.  How can I do this?

AIA would look like the below:

Federal like this:

Other would look like the below and they would be able to rename the phases:

Answer 1

AutoText entries must be stored in a template (*.dotx or *.dotm). I think you're working in a document (*.docx or *.docm) file. You can use the File > Save As command (shortcut F12) to save a copy of the document as a template and work on that. While you're creating the AutoText entries, either have the template itself open, or work in a document based on the template; that will make the template available in the Save In dropdown of the Building Blocks dialog.

Each time you need a fresh copy of the form for a new project, double-click the template in File Explorer, or right-click the template and choose New in the menu. That will create a document based on the template.

In the article that Suzanne linked to, steps 9 and 10 of the "Create a popup list" section explain how to create the AutoTextList field without the Fields dialog: Press Ctrl+F9 to insert the field brackets, and type the field code between the brackets.

If you prefer to use the dialog, the "New value" box that you see in your screen shot specifies the text that will be visible in the document (the "Choose a project type" in my example). Then you need to click the Field Codes button in the bottom left corner of the dialog and add the \s "Project" switch (and optionally the \t switch to change the tooltip text) in the Field Codes box.

I also recommend clearing the check box for "Preserve formatting during updates", which adds a fairly useless bit to the field code.

Answer 2

This article may help: https://wordmvp.com/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/AutoTextList.htm

Answer 3

i got it to work.  Thank you so much!

Answer 4

The simplest method is this:

• In the template (*dotx or *.dotm file) for your form, define a new paragraph style. It can have the same formatting as the Normal style, or anything else you want. Name it, for example, "Projects".
• Build each table starting in a paragraph of that style.
• Store each of the three tables in a separate AutoText entry in the template. Name the AutoText entries AIA, Federal, and Other in the Building Block dialog. You can define a new category for these tables, but that isn't required.

• At the location in the template where you want the table to appear, insert an AUTOTEXTLIST field, such as this:

• Press F9 to update the field so it shows only the text in the first pair of quote marks.
• Save and close the template.

When you base a new document on the template, the text will appear in the document. When the mouse cursor hovers over the text, a popup will prompt the user to right-click it.

Right-clicking will show a menu of the AutoText entries that are formatted with the style named in the \s switch of the field.

Choosing one of the project types will insert the corresponding table from the AutoText entries.

Answer 5

Thank you so much for digging into this!  2 questions:

• In my building block the document name wasn't an option under "Save in".  I can only select "Normal" or "Building Blocks".  What did i do wrong?
• I'm really struggling with how to insert the autotext list field.  i can't get it to work.  Can you provide more detail on how to do that?

i tried like this:

But then I just ended up with a grey box that said projects, and couldn't get the text you were showing.