Cant add a check box to allow user to click x

Question

I am having a problem getting a check box to work. I have used developer tab then added the check box which I can do via legacy or active x control. The problem is it adds text and once the text box is in, the form filler cant click on the box. I have attached a screen shot.

How do I resolve it so that in the boxes the user can only click on the box to enter an X and not enter text.
Thank you for any help

Answer 1

I have used the developer tab and the legacy and active x check boxes but it wont let me put in a check box without text to the right or allow the user of the page to click in the box to activate the x![](https://learn-attachment.microsoft.com/api/attachments/816def97-eeff-4bca-bf55-9e6820b77460?platform=QnA

Answer 2

You would have to protect the form to prevent the user from being able to add text. The protection method varies with the type of checkbox you are adding. As an example, after adding a legacy form field checkbox, you would protect the document for forms (Developer>Restrict Editing, then change the Editing restrictions dropdown to Filling in forms).

Using the newer Content Controls is more flexible for designating which areas of the document allow or prohibit editing. Please post again if you need help with setting up editing restrictions with Content Controls.

Answer 3

There shouldn't be any reason you can't have a legacy formfield check box without text -- it doesn't have any property that includes text, so the text has to be ordinary text that you type next to it. To make the check box active, though, you must protect the document for "Filling in forms" in the Editing Restrictions section of the Restrict Editing pane and start enforcing protection.

The ActiveX check box initially does have text showing the control's name, but you can open the check box's Properties dialog and delete that text from the Caption property.

To make the check box clickable, you must turn off Design Mode. Unlike the legacy formfield, it does not need protection. However, because the inclusion of any ActiveX object makes the document appear to have macro content, you can run into permission problems when trying to open the document.

If you don't need document protection for anything else, it's advisable to use a check box content control instead of the legacy formfield.

Answer 4

If you are in the Windows version, you could, rather than ActiveX or a legacy checkbox, you could use the Checkbox Content Control, which does not require that the document be protected for forms to work. You can also specify in the Properties of that CC what you want the checked/unchecked checkbox to look like.