WD97: How to Control the Tabbing Order in a Form

• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

SUMMARY

By default, when you fill in an online form, Word positions the insertion point in the first form field and moves from one field to the next in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom order when you press TAB. To change the default tabbing order, use the procedure described in the "More Information" section of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see the following page on the World Wide Web:

     
   http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/refguide/default.asp

Method 1: Create a single exit macro for all Form fields

Create a macro similar to the following example. For each form field, specify this macro as the exit macro for Form field in your document. In the Select Case statement, list each Form field for which you want to change the tabbing order.

Note: Each Case statement below should be in all lower case.

   Sub TabOrder()
      Dim sTabTo As String
      Dim dlgForm As Dialog
      Set dlgForm = Dialogs(wdDialogFormFieldOptions)
      Select Case LCase(dlgForm.Name)
         Case "cc"
            sTabTo = "header"
         Case "header"
            sTabTo = "to"
         Case "to"
            sTabTo = "from"
         Case "from"
            sTabTo = "memo"
         Case "memo"
            sTabTo = "subject"
         Case "subject"
            sTabTo = "cc"
         Case Else
      End Select
      ActiveDocument.Bookmarks(sTabTo).Select
   End Sub

Method 2: Create a separate macro for each form field

Each macro contains a Selection.GoTo statement that moves the insertion point to the desired Form field.

TIP: To easily identify each macro, give the macro a name that

     describes its functionality. For example, use the name
     "GoToSubject" (without the quotation marks) for the Exit
     macro that moves the insertion point to the Subject Form field.

   Sub GoToSubject()
      Selection.GoTo What:=wdGoToBookmark, Name:="Subject"
   End Sub

   ARTICLE-ID: Q120447
   TITLE     : How to Control the Tabbing Order in a Form

   ARTICLE-ID: Q181058
   TITLE     : OFF98: How to Run Sample Code from Knowledge Base Articles

REFERENCES

For more information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q163435
   TITLE     : VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for 
               Applications