Forming Up Your Genealogy--Part 10

When you find a form you want to reproduce, you need to study it carefully to see how it was put together. Reverse engineering a document is standard practice in producing documents. It's frequently a good learning method. In the case of the family group form I've been talking about, I'm going to walk you through the reverse engineering.

Page Setup
If you displayed the family group form and then displayed the Page Setup dialog, it would look like this sample.

I've sent the margins very close to the edge of the paper: Top 0.25" and Bottom, Left, and Right 0.5" each. When you create a form, you want to use as much of the page area as possible. 

This layout assumes that I'm going to put my contact info in the body of the document. If I were going to put contact info in a header (or footer), the top margin (or bottom) would need to be large enough to accommodate a logo and text. In addition, I would make changes on the Layout tab to handle the header or footer. If you need to know more about these tabs, see this post: Setting up a Book Template Part 1. 

Setting Up Tables

In looking at the sample, the tables (12 of them) are set up as separate tables. The husband table has five columns and seven rows, while the wife table has five columns and six rows. Each child table has five columns and eight rows. Most of the tables are separated by one empty line using a style called spacer (3 point font with 1 point before). You need to create this style. See the Styles Posts for more information. 

If you look at the sample form, you can see where table cells were merged and formatted in an effort to create some interest and make the form attractive. 

If you need help setting up tables, see the table series of posts: Table Posts. 

When you add the 12 tables to your document, I suggest that you create the husband, wife, and child 1 tables first. Add the fields in each of the three tables (see the previous posts for details on adding fields). Double-click each field and edit the properties based on the the type of field. Copy and paste the Child 1 table nine times and update child number in the first column of each table. 

When completing the Child tables, leave the last name blank. We're going to add an automatic cross-reference that will allow your form user to type the husband's last name and then add that last name to each child table in the Last Name field. 

Setting Up the Automatic Surname Fields

In the Husband table, in the Last Name field, when you edit this form field, it should have some special settings. Double-click the form field to display the Text Form Field Options dialog.

To complete properties: 

1. Complete the Type form field group as shown above. 
2. In the Field setting group, edit the Bookmark to give it a logical name. For example, enter FamilyName or Surname or Last_Name. Notice that the text is an unbroken string. Remember that bookmarks can't have spaces. 
3. Confirm that Fill-in enabled is selected. 
4. Click the check box beside Calculate on exit. Selecting this last check box will cause the form to update cross-references (which you will be adding next) when the user of the form presses Tab to move to the next field in the form. 
5. Click the OK button and save your form. 

To add cross-references: 

1. Click in the Last Name field of the Child 1 table. 
2. Insert a cross-reference to the bookmark you set up in the properties dialog.
   --In Word 2007/2010, click the Reference tab, and select Cross-reference in the Captions group.
   --In Word 2003, select, Insert, Reference, and then Cross-reference.
   The Cross-reference dialog appears. 
3. In Reference type, Bookmark should be selected.
4. In Insert reference to, select Bookmark text.
5. In For which bookmark, select the bookmark you set up. 
6. Click Insert. 
7. Repeat these steps in the Last Name field for each Child table. 

Testing Your Form

1. Save your form. 
2. Enforce protection.
3. Save your form as a template.
4. Close everything. 
5. Relaunch Word.
6. Open the template (form) you saved and fill in the form. (You're playing the part of end user of your form.)
7. Use the Tab key to move from field to field. 
8. Notice that when you complete the husband's last name, the name is added as each child's last name. 
9. Congratulations on completing your first form! Be sure to save it. 

Future Posts
I'll start looking at other forms and tell you how I would put them together.

Hyperlinks Part 4 Adding a Link to a Place in a Document

If you read my last post, you know that I'm going to talk about adding a hyperlink to a place within the same document. Adding hyperlinks is a convenience for your reader. When you save a document as a PDF, the hyperlinks are saved as active links that your reader can use.

Insert a Hyperlink

1. To make this work, you must have applied Heading styles to topic headings and/or added bookmarks to mid-topic locations. The destination must be defined before you can link to it.
2. Locate the place in the text where you want to add the link...the origination...and highlight the text.
   
   For example, if you've written an extensive description of the ship Helvetia on page 40 of your document (the destination), you would either apply a Heading style to the topic heading or create a mid-topic bookmark. Later, when you mention the Helvetia on page 120, you are going to want to  select the word Helvetia (the origination) and link it to the description on page 40 (the destination).
3. Display the Insert Hyperlink dialog.
   --Word 2007/2010: On the Insert menu, in the Links group, click Hyperlink.
   --Word 2003: On the main menu, click Insert, and then click Hyperlink.
   Or, right-click to display a pop-up menu, and then click Hyperlink.
   
   
4. In Link to, click Place in This Document. The list of destinations in the box on the right updates to include places where you've applied a heading style or added a bookmark.
5. Select a heading or bookmark, and then click OK. The text you selected is formatted as a hyperlink.

Testing the Link

If you want to confirm that the link works, hold down the Ctrl key, and then click the link. Your document scrolls from the origination (the link) to the destination (the text with the heading style applied or the bookmark). 

When you test your document, you are functioning as a reader of your document. After you execute the link, you'll note that you have no way to get back! Well, you have no obvious way back. Hold down the Alt key, and then click the left arrow key. The document scrolls back to the origination; that is, the place you were reading.

Links in PDFs

If you're reading in a PDF and you've turned on the thumbnails or bookmarks, the good news is that after you click the link, the PDF saves your place. The PDF shows the last thumbnail or bookmark as the last place you scrolled to; that is, where you clicked the link. Click the thumbnail or bookmark to return to where you were reading. 

More to come in later posts...see you then...

Hyperlinks Part 3...ACK!...and a pause for bookmarks

My next post assumes you have a document that includes the application of heading styles and the addition of bookmarks. I went looking for the post on how to add bookmarks. It's at this point that I yelled, "ACK!" It appears that I've only talked about bookmarks in passing. So we're going to pause while I do a bit of back filling...that is, tell you about bookmarks...a very handy item.

After you have added bookmarks to a document, you can either add a cross reference to the bookmark (with a page number) or create a hyperlink to the bookmark.  The decision to add a cross reference as opposed to a hyperlink is based on the type of document you'll be producing. As a general rule of thumb, cross references with page numbers appear in printed documents and hyperlinks appear in online document (for example, a PDF posted at a website).


Why create a hyperlink to a bookmark?
Let's suppose that you have provided an extensive description of a place (Sparta, Illinois) in running text at the beginning of your document. Later in your document, when you mention Sparta, you might want to add a cross reference or hyperlink to the full description as a convenience for your reader. However, since both mentions of Sparta are in the middle of running text, they most likely have a body text type of style applied. You need something on which to hang that cross reference or hyperlink.

If you remember, a cross reference requires a reference type to add the reference. Hyperlinks use two of the same reference types (Headings and Bookmarks). To use these reference types, you must:

• Apply heading styles to heading text 
• Add bookmarks in running text 

Insert a Bookmark

1. Select a place to add a bookmark. For example, you would want to add a bookmark (the destination) to the full description of Sparta.
   --You can simply click beside a word where you want to place the bookmark.
   --You can use your mouse to select text where you want to place the bookmark. 
2. Open the Bookmark dialog.
   --In Word 2003, click Insert on the main menu, and then select Bookmark.
   --In Word 2007/2010, on the Insert tab, locate the Links group, and then select Bookmark.
   
   
3. In the Bookmark name field, type the name of the bookmark. The name must be one word. The get one word you can use Camel case; for example, SpartaIllinoisDescription. Or, you can use underscores; for example, Sparta_Illinois_Description. If you add any spaces, Word will ignore the bookmark.
4. Click the Add button, and then click the Close button. Word closes the Bookmark dialog and you see nothing! MS Word adds the bookmark as a hidden mark. You can show bookmarks. If you insist, I'll tell you how but for the most part, you won't really care.  

After the bookmark exists, you can create a cross reference or hyperlink to it. For example, you would add a cross reference or hyperlink to subsequent mentions of Sparta, Illinois that take your reader to the full description (the destination a.k.a. the bookmark).

• To create a cross reference, see Adding an Electronic Page Number for a Cross Reference. You need to make one change in the instructions. In the Reference type field, select Bookmark. Otherwise, the instructions are the same. 
• To add a hyperlink, see my next post, which is what I really really was going to post about tonight. 

Additional Usage Tip
When I'm editing a long document and I'm interrupted, I add the bookmark StartHere to mark the place where I stopped editing. I can save and close my document, do several other tasks, and then come back to the document I was editing. To find my place, I open the document, display the Bookmark dialog, click the bookmark StartHere in the list of bookmarks, and then click the Go To button. My document scrolls to the last place where I was editing. I can keep the bookmark or delete it (display the Bookmark dialog, click the bookmark, and then click the Delete button). As is usual with MS Work, your use of this tool is limited only by your imagination.