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Using Your Forms

Modify A Previously Created Form

Select Open from the File menu and select the document file you want to edit.

Saving Your Form Documents

Click Save or Save As… from the File menu.

Note

Make sure to save your High Tech Forms documents as normal Word documents (*.doc). Do not attempt to create template files (*.dot), as your High Tech Forms license will not recognize these kinds of template files as licensed forms and you will not be able to save or print changes to those documents.

Moving Through Your Form

High Tech Forms documents are customized Word documents with helpful automation features built-in.

Tab between fillable fields in tables

New in updated forms: while inside a table, press Tab to move to the next fillable field or Shift+Tab to move to the previous one. Header cells, labels, and other non-entry cells are skipped, so you no longer need to move with the cursor keys or tab through headings to reach the next entry.

  • Tab and Shift+Tab work even when the next field already contains text.
  • From the last field in a table, Tab continues to the first field of the next table. After the last field in the form it wraps around to the first field.
  • Ctrl+Home jumps to the first fillable field and Ctrl+End to the last one.
  • Outside a table, Tab behaves as it normally does in Word.

This applies to updated forms with designated entry fields in their tables, not to arbitrary Word tables. If Tab moves through every cell, check that you have the latest version of the form and that macros are enabled for your trusted file. Do not alter the table structure to make navigation work.

Other ways to move

There are a variety of ways to move through your form. Some forms will use different methods than others.

  1. Use the cursor keys (also called the “arrow keys”).
  2. Use the Page Up and Page Down keys.
  3. If your form has form fields, use the TAB and Shift+TAB keys
  4. You can use your mouse to position the text cursor on the form, click the document window scrollbars, or roll the mouse wheel.
  5. In most cases, unless there is room to do so, DO NOT use the ENTER key to move around the document.

See the instructions for your particular form for additional information (if any).

Creating A Boilerplate Document

One of the primary benefits of High Tech Forms templates is the ability to create boilerplate documents. These are documents that are pre-filled with information that will appear on most or all of the forms you will create.

  1. Start a new document and enter your repetitive data.
  2. Save that as a Word document with the filename “My TWCC-1 Boilerplate” (or something similar and appropriate and that you will easily remember).
  3. In the future, when you open that document, it will already be partially complete.
  4. Simply fill in the remaining information.
  5. Save the document with a new name so you don’t overwrite your boilerplate document!

If you ever need to change the default (boilerplate) information, open your boilerplate document, make the changes, and save it.