How to create input and message boxes in a Word document?

Last update: March 2019; applicability: Office 365,2019, 2016, 2013.

Sometimes, we need to make our Word documents interactive and capture some user input. For that we typically use both message and input boxes .

As the name suggests a message box is a piece of information that is displayed to the document users. Input boxes are instrumental to capture information from the user.

This post has all the information and code you’ll need to create fully functional documents with VBA message and input boxes for Word.

How to add VBA code into Word?

Before we go ahead and explain how to add message and input boxes, here’s a quick refresher on how to add VBA code to a Word document.

• First off, go ahead and enable the Developer tab.
• Now, hit the Visual Basic button from the Developer tab. This will open the Visual Basic Editor.

• Highlight your Document.
• Click Insert and then select Module.

• Copy the code we provide below into the Module you just created into your module.
• Click on Save. Provide a name to your document if prompted.
• Close the Visual Basic Editor.

Message Boxes VBA code

Syntax:

MsgBox(prompt,buttons,title,helpfile,context)

Syntax explanation:

Prompt:

Required. It is the information that can be given to the user. It should be inserted inside the double quotation mark.

Buttons:

Optional. Buttons are those kind of buttons that are given to the users information. There are various buttons available for MsgBox() and they can be found on the pictures below.

Title:

Optional. It is the title for the information given to the user. If not given, Microsoft word will be the default title.

Helpfile and context:

• Optional. Helpfile will identify the Help file available in local disk which can be provided as a help in a dialog box
• Optional. Context is numeric expression which is used to identify the help topic by the unique number.

Sample Message box code

Sub messagebox()
'Variables assigned
Dim buttonclick As VbMsgBoxResult
'Message box to display information to user
MsgBox "Hi, Visual basic is easy to work with", vbExclamation, "VBA"
'Message box to ask question to user with yes or no question
buttonclick = MsgBox("Do you like VBA?", vbQuestion + vbYesNo, "VBA")
If buttonclick = vbYes Then
MsgBox "Yes, they are great!", vbExclamation, "VBA"
Else
MsgBox "Why not? They are great!", vbCritical, "VBA"
End If
End Sub

Output:

Input Boxes VBA code

Input box is used to get information from the user. Let us discuss about it with an example.

Syntax:

InputBox(Prompt, Title, Default, XPos, YPos, HelpFile, HelpContextId, Type)

Syntax explanation:

Prompt:

Required. It is the information that can be given to the user. It should be inserted inside the double quotation mark.

Title:

Optional. It is the title for the information given to the user. If not given, Microsoft word will be the default title.

Default:

Optional. It displays the default value inside the text box, before user types for a value. If not specified, the text box will be empty.

XPos:

Optional. It is used as the position on the X axis. From left to right

YPos:

Optional. It is used as the position on the Y axis. From top to bottom

Helpfile and HelpContext ID:

• Optional. Helpfile will identify the Help file available in local disk which can be provided as a help in a dialog box
• Optional. HelpContext ID is the id number for the help file.

Input box code:

Sub macro()
'Variables assigned
Dim a As Long
Dim b As Long
'Input box to get value from user
a = InputBox("Enter a value for a", "Question 1")
b = InputBox("Enter a value for b", "Question 2")
'Answer displayed in a message box
MsgBox ("Answer is " & Val(a) + Val(b))
End Sub

Output:

How to run a macro using a button in Word 2016?

Couple of days ago we learnt how to develop new macros in Microsoft Word 2016. Today’s quick tip will focus on how can run our macros with a simple button click from the Ribbon. This tip was written for Word, but applies to Excel as well. Microsoft Outlook and PowerPoint don’t have an integrated Macro recorder, so we’ll need to use VBA to write Macros. As such, running Macros in PP and Outlook is slightly different, and we’ll be detailing that in a different post soon.

Ok, without further ado, let’s get going.

Recording your Word Macro

First we’ll record the macro from the View tab:

• Open Word 2016, click View tab and select the Macros drop-down box.

• Hit Record Macro.

• Set the name for the macro and its description .

Assigning the macro to a menu button

• Now it’s time to tell Microsoft Word how you’ll invoke your Macro in MS Word. In today’s guide we’ll opt to assign it to a specific button.
• Therefore, your next step is to click on the button icon so that your macro can be operated from the Quick Access Toolbar (located in the upper left hand side of your screen next to the Word icon, Save button and Undo/Redo buttons.

• Now, select your macro and associate it to an entry in the Quick Access Toolbar.

• Here the default Name and icon will be set to the macro.
• You can hit the Modify icon to select an icon and rename it.
• After we set, click OK to add the button to the Quick Access Toolbar.

• Record your macro.
• Once done, hit Stop recording.

• The Quick Access toolbar now displays a button that allows to run your macro.
  

How to insert macros into Microsoft Word 2016 and 2019 documents?

Last update: February 2019

Applicability: Word 365, 2019, 2016; Windows and MAC OS X operating systems.

Here’s a question from our reader, Krish: 

I am a teacher and I am using Word 2019 to write important documents. I repeatedly need to change the font and size for the paragraphs. Is there a way to change them to my preferred font on one click?

Here’s our answer:

To set same font of same size with justified text we can use Macro in Microsoft Word 2016. We will discuss how to record macro and set them on one click in Word.

Inserting a macro to Word

• Make sure that your developer menu is visible in the ribbon.
• Hit Developer
• In the Code panel, we’ll see the Macros and Record macro buttons.

• Now, hit the Record macro button to invokes the macro recorder function

• Set the name for the macro and add description for the macro.

Execute a Word Macro

Executing the macro can be done in three ways. They can be assigned using button, keyboard and also we can execute them manually.

Assign your new macro to buttons

• Click on the Button icon to add a button to Word’s Quick Access Toolbar.

• Now, select the macro you just created and click Add to add the button to the Quick Access Toolbar.

• Click on the Modify icon to select new icon and to rename and click OK.

• Now your Macro will start recording, so now it’s time to work on your text and formatting.
• After finishing working on the template, click Stop recording.
• If needed we can even click pause recording and resume recording to work later.

• After recording the macro you’ll notice the new icon in your Quick Access toolbar (in your screen upper left side)

Using Keyboard:

• Click on the keyboard icon to add a shortcut for the template.

• In the Press new shortcut key, press and hold the Ctrl/Alt key and press any of the letter keys to assign it to display the template.
• Click Assign and select Close.

• Now your Macro will start recording, so it’s time to work on your text and formatting.
• After finishing working on the template, click Stop recording.
• If needed we can even click pause recording and resume recording to work later.

• Now, whenever we press the assigned key in the word document, your macro will be executed and the template will be added.

Manually running your macro

• After the recording is finished, click the Developer tab and select Macros in the code option.

• Here we can find the macros that we have created so far.
• Now, click on the macro that has to be executed and select Run.

• Thus a macro can be executed manually.

Creating a macro using VBA

If you are an expert in Visual Basic for Applications we can edit the macros and write programs to automate various kinds of works using VBA.

Aside Note: FYI – some of the Microsoft Office applications, such as Powerpoint and Outlook, do not have built in macro recorders. Therefore, writing VBA is mandatory for writing Powerpoint macros and automating Outlook.

• To edit a macro, click on the Developer tab and select Macros in the code option.
• Click on the macro and select Edit.

Word Macro example

Let us put our own advice into action. Coming back to our reader’s question. We’ll create a macro to help us automatically format a paragraph font to Times New Roman, size 14 and justified alignment.

Let’s get going:

• From the Developer tab, start a recording your macro

• Enter the name, description and selected Button in the Assign to macros.

• Modify the Macro Name and icon.

• Now, selected the texts and changed the font to Times New Roman, size to 14 and clicked Justify.

• Stop your recording.
• You’ll see your assigned Macro icon in the Quick Access toolbar.
• So whenever the text is selected and your macro button is clicked, it will be changed to our preferred font & size.

Display header and footer text on Word 365/ 2016 / 2019 and Google Docs documents first page only?

Applicable to: Office 365, 2019, 2016, 2013; Windows 10, 7

Last updated: February 2019

Here’s a note we got from our reader, Diana:

I work as a business analyst and often use Microsoft Word as well as Google Docs to author management reports which i submit to my management chain. The documents i create have a custom header in which i typically put the report name, its author, date it was written and so on. In the subsequent pages, i would like to display / keep only the report name information. I guess my question is whether what i am asking is even possible in Office 365 version 2016 and Google Docs. In summary: can i set my document header and footer and keep it only in the first page only?

We’ll start by explaining the process for Microsoft Word (both Windows and MAC OSX); then we’ll provide a similar process for Google Docs documents.

Microsoft Word

Display Header only in a Word document first page

To set a custom Header and have it appearing only in your document first page, proceed as following:

1. Open your Word 2016 document
2. At this point you might want to use a Cover page as the first page of your doc.
3. Optionally, also define a Table of Contents.
4. Navigate to your document first page.
5. In the upper Ribbon, hit Insert, select Header and select your Header from the selection of available Built-In headers (available either locally or at Office.com). In case that you already have a predefined header for your first page, hit Edit Header.

6. The Header & Footer Design pane will be opened.
7. In the Options section, check the Different First Page check box. This actually does the trick
8. Now it’s time to design your header. Hit the Quick Parts button for available document properties available for use in your header, such as: Author, Subject, Title, Company Name, Phone, Publish date etc’. Your selection of file properties are also available by hitting the Document Info button.
9. At this point you might want to include page numbers in your doc. It’s possible to show the numbers in your document first page only.
10. If you would like to now define a custom MS Word footer in the first page, hit Go To Footer and follow the steps below.
11. If you are done, simple hit the Close Header and Footer button.

Footer only in first page

The procedure for making a custom first page footer is similar to the one we just outlined for the header.

From the Ribbon, hit Insert and then Footer, and the set your own design. Use the process outlined in the section below.

Different headers and footers for subsequent pages

Chances are, that similarly to our reader who asked this question; you might need a different footer/header from page two onward. All you’ll need to do is after setting your custom cover page header/footer and before closing the header design tab, to go ahead and define a different header/footer for the second page. This will be shown in every subsequent page in your Word file. Once done, close the header design tab.

Custom header and footer in odd/even pages

Use the Different Odd & Even Pages check box to specify different header and footer setting depending on page numbers being odd or even.

Google Docs

Show header only on first page

1. Open your Google Docs document.
2.  Hit Insert and then select Header and page number.
3. Then select Header.
4. Then check the “Different first page header/footer” box. That will do the trick!

5.  Now type your first page header text

Different footer on Docs first page **only**

Limiting the footer to the first page only is essentially similar to the process we just highlighted for the header.

The only difference, is that you’ll access the footer by selecting: Insert, then Header and page number and then go ahead and select Footer.

Here’s an example of a custom footer for your Google docs document opening page.

Remove header & footer from Google Docs second page

Getting rid of both header and footer text starting the second page in both Google Docs and Word is pretty common, and actually done in the same way we just shown.

Show page numbers in all pages except the first

In Google Docs it’s quite easy to show page numbers starting the second page.

Under the page Number dialog, you can simply select the numbering format that matches your needs as shown below:

Suggested next steps

• Got additional questions? Look into our guide on how to get your questions answered.

How to flip text in a Word 2016 / 2019 document?

This procedure is fully applicable to: Office 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 365; It was tested on Windows 10,8, 7 and MAC OSX 10.13

Last updated: February 2010

Here’s a question we got from our reader, Matilda:

I have a bunch of formatted text letters and pictures created in my Word document which i want to mirror. I understand that there are several ways to do that. Could you explain how should i “reverse” and then print my document text?

Thanks for the question. Microsoft Word allows you to easily rotate and flip text written in your document. In this tutorial we’ll explain using text formatted with WordArt, however you can use the same technique in order to mirror, flip and rotate any text box as well. Many of the following steps work also on PowerPoint and can be helpful in case you want to flip pictures (stored in your computer or online images) to create more professional presentation slides.

Mirror and Reverse text in Word

We’ll first going to go ahead and insert some WordArt text that we’ll use in this post. Remember that you are able to insert any text box (Insert>>Text Box), and photos (Insert>> Pictures) and mirror them in the same way we outline below.

Go ahead and follow these steps:

• Open your Word 2016 document, in the upper ribbon, hit Insert and select your preferred Word Art formatting.
  

• Enter your text and hit on Format.

• Select Shape effects drop down box and in the 3-D Rotation, select 3-D Rotation options..

• In the X Rotation fix the value to 180° and other rotations as 0° to mirror the text.

• In the Y Rotation fix the value to 180° and other rotations as 0° to make the text mirrored and upside down.

• In the Z Rotation fix the value to 180° and other rotations as 0° to just make the text upside down.

Rotate text on MAC OSX

• In your MAC, go ahead and open Microsoft Word
• Navigate to your document
• Hit Insert, the select Word Art
• Type your text
• Hit the Shape Format tab
• Select Format Pane
• Now, select Text Options
• Then in the middle tab select the 3D – Rotation tab, set the X Rotation to 180 degrees to mirror your text.

Flipping text in Microsoft Word:

• Open Word 2016, hit  Insert and select your preferred Word Art.
• Enter your text and click Rotate drop down box in the format ribbon.

• Click on the Flip Vertically to flip the text object vertically.

• Click on the Flip Horizontally to flip the text upside down

• Rotate 90° to the right, and you’ll get vertical text in your Word page.

• Rotate Left 90° will make the text rotate 90° on to the left.

Suggested next steps

• Got additional related questions? Feel free to leave us a comment.

Thanks for reading!

How to easily make a brochure using Word 2016 and 2019?

Last updated: February 2019

Applicable to: Microsoft Word 2019 / 2016 ; Office 365 and desktop ; Windows 7 & 10, MACO SX

Here’s a question from a reader that wanted to create a pamphlet in Word:

Hello! quick question here. I am in need of defining a flyer for an event i am organizing. Understood that Word ships some nice exemplary templates i can use? Any pointers are appreciated!

In Marketing, brochures are typically used to get people to know, understand and talk about your product, company or event.  The good news are that you don’t have to be a professional marketeer to create and print professional brochures. You can use built in templates on top of Microsoft Word to create your own great looking brochures, pamphlets, flyers and leaflets.

In today’s post we will provide a step by step guide for defining and printing inexpensive brochures you can use for business or personal purposes using Word 2016. The process is fully applicable to version 2019.

Setup your brochure

1. Open Word, click on File and select New.

2. Search for a existing templates (either in your computer of Office.com) to jumpstart your brochure creation , or use your own template.

3. Select any one of the brochure templates, check the preview and click Create.

4. A sample brochure is now created.
5. Save the brochure by either by pressing Ctrl+S in the keyboard or click file and select Save. Next step will be to modify the template so it will fit your needs.

Customizing your brochure

We can make changes to the images and texts in the sample brochure to make our own brochure. Obviously, there is a great amount of design  work you can put into the project, pending your time, budget or skills. In this guide we’ll cover three possible design changes you could implement: inserting and changing existing pictures in a brochure template as well as adding/modifying text. We’ll also cover modifying the layout scheme of your pamphlet by adding new columns.

Working with images and texts

1. We can change the Image by right clicking on the image and selecting Change picture.

2. Insert the picture by browsing it from your disk, by using the Bing search,or by leveraging  pictures you have uploaded on your Facebook or OneDrive accounts.

3. We can change the existing  brochure text, by simply tapping on the text and then adding ro, modifying or deleting it as needed.

4. After finishing your changes to the brochure, press Ctrl+S and save it.

Inserting columns into the brochure

1. Right click on the brochure where new column has to be placed and move cursor to Insert.

2. Click Insert columns to right or Insert columns to left to insert new column to right or left of the selected column.
3. Insert rows above or Insert rows below allows us to insert a new row above or below the page.
4. Inserting cells helps us move the selected cell right and down.
5. Also Inserting the entire row and Inserting entire column will insert a new row or column from the selected column.
6. Using this technique you could also define more advanced flyers – such as tri-fold ones.

Creating brochures on MAC OS X

The Microsoft Word version for MAC OS X also allows you to create pretty cool marketing brochures and pamphlets. Also in this case, we  strongly suggest to use a brochure template to speed up your brochure development.

1. Open Microsoft Word
2. From the header menu, select New from Template (of use shortcut shift + command + p).
3. Then in the search box in the right hand side, type brochures.
4. You’ll now see the list of available brochure templates.
5. Now double click  on the brochure template that fits your purpose: marketing, sports, fashion, restaurants and other thematic templates are readily available for you. Alternatively select the template and hit Create.
6. Save and customize your brochure as shown above.

Suggested next steps

• Got a related question on Microsoft Word? Look into our guide on how to get your questions answered.

How to insert custom document forms into Word 2019 / 2016?

Here’s a question from our reader, Lila:

I usually prefer working with Microsoft Word for creating any important documents. But now I am in need to create a simple form to capture some colleague feedback on an initiative i am leading at work. Can you tell how to create a basic fillable form in Word?

Thanks for your question. Read on for all the details -:)

Inserting forms in Word

1. Open your Microsoft Word document.
2. Make sure that your Developer tab is enabled.
3. In the Developer tab we can find the controls that are needed to create a form.
4. The Design mode helps us to edit the type of controls properties and to assign a name to the control.

4. Now let’s discuss the types of controls and how to add them inside the document to create a form.

Office form Controls

Rich text content control/Plain text content control:

Rich and plain text content control are used for the text formatting like font name, size, bold, italics. Rich text can be used where multiple paragraphs can be typed. If we are in need to limit the texts from users we can use Plain text content control.

1. Click the place where the control needs to be inserted.
2. Then click Developer tab and select Rich or Plain text content control.

Picture content control:

If we want the application to add a picture of the user this picture content control can be used.

1. Click the place where the control needs to be inserted.
2. Then click Developer tab and select Picture content control.

Building block gallery content control:

If we want the user to know that specific set of topics belongs to the same block, they can be assigned to the building block gallery content control. Select all the text items and click on the building block content to work.

1. Click the place where the control needs to be inserted.
2. Then  select Building block gallery.

Check box content control:

1. It is used for as a check box content.
2. Click the place where the control needs to be inserted.
3. Then select Building block gallery.

Combo boxes:

The combo box or a drop-down list are used when we want user to select the information that are provided in the list of our choice.

1. Click the place where the control needs to be inserted.
2. Then select combo box or drop-down list.
3. Then right click on the box and select Properties.
4. In the drop-down list properties, click Add and enter the display name.

Date picker content control:

Use the date picker to let allow the user to select data values.

1. Click the place where the control needs to be inserted.
2. Then select Date picker.
3. If needed select the properties to change the format of the date.

Putting your knowledge in action – a short exercise

1. In Microsoft Word, we’ll first define your form field labels.
2. Define the form field labels.

4. Next, add the form controls.
5. Add a Rich text control for Name and Hobbies.

5. Date Picker control for DOB.

6. Combo box control for Favorite color, added with some colors.

7. Interested works will be added with check boxes.

8. Lastly, add a submit button so you can email your filled form.

9. Right click and select properties to change the name of the button.

10. In your button Caption field, write Submit.
11. Double click the Submit button to write a short VBA snippet that will send your filled form by email. Here’s the very simple code:

Options.SendMailAttach = True
ActiveDocument.SendMail

11. At this point your might want to save your form as a template, as shown before.
12. After hitting Submit your form will be attached to a new Outlook message and ready to be sent to your recipient of choice.

Voil’a your all set

How to find and mass replace text and numbers in Word andExcel 2016?

If you have used Microsoft Word or Excel at school or work, you might have realized that it’s a bit challenging to mass find and replace certain text or numbers automatically. This is exactly, what we’ll show you in today’s quick tip.

Word:

• Open Microsoft Word document.
• Enter the data in word document .

• To replace a word with another word,click on home tab and then click editing option.
• Click replace option under editing group.

• In the Find what box, enter the text you want to replace.
• In the Replace with box, enter the replacement text.

• To replace only the highlighted text click Replace option.

• To replace all instances of the text in the entered document, click Replace All.
• To skip from present highlighted text to next instance, click Find Next.

Excel:

• Open your Microsoft Excel workbook.

• To replace a word with another word,click on home tab and then click Editing option.
• Click replace option under editing group.

• In the Find what box, enter the text you want to replace.
• In the Replace with box, enter the replacement text.

• To replace only the highlighted text click Replace option.

• To replace all instances of the text in the entered document, click Replace All.
• To skip from present highlighted text to next instance, click Find Next.

• Hence the same process can be continued for changing any type of words for the entered data.
• Mass Replace in PowerPoint works in a similar fashion.

Thansk for reading.

Password protect and un-protect Word, PowerPoint and Access 2016 files

Here’s a question from Kyle:

“I know all our documents in Microsoft Office can be pass-protected. Can you explain how to add and remove passwords to my docs and presentations?”

Thanks for you question. You can add password protection to your mail, spreadsheets, documents, presentations and databases. In today’s post we will learn together how to password protect in Word, PowerPoint and Access 2016. Same method applies to version 2013 as well. We’ll also learn about the flip side, that is removing your document, slides or database file password in case you forgot it.

Word 2016:

Add password:

• Open the word document which has to be protected with a password.
• Click on File and select Info.

• Click the drop down box of protect document and select Encrypt with password.

• Enter the password twice and hit OK to protect the document.

Remove password:

• Open the word document which is encrypted with password by entering your current password.
• Click on File and select Info.

• Click the drop down box of protected document and select Encrypt with password.

• Now erase the words in it and hit OK to remove the password.

PowerPoint:

Add password:

• Open the powerpoint presentation which has to be protected with a password.
• Click on File and select Info.

• Click the drop down box of protect document and select Encrypt with password.

• Enter the password twice and hit OK to protect the presentation.

Remove password:

• Open the powerpoint presentation which is encrypted with password by entering your password.
• Click on File and select Info.

• Click the drop down box of protected presentation and select Encrypt with password.

• Erase the words in it and hit OK to remove the password.

Access:

Add password:

• Open you Access database which has to be protected with a password.
• Click on File and select Info.

• Click on Encrypt with password.

• Enter the password twice and click OK to protect the database.

Remove password:

• Open the access database which is encrypted with password by entering the password.
• Click on File and select Info.

• Click Decrypt database.

• Enter your password and click OK to remove password.

That’s it. Thanks for reading.

How to easily add Excel sheets and Word documents into PowerPoint 2016 slides?

One of the coolest features of Microsoft Office is the ability to embed an Office application into another. Few weeks ago, we showed you how to easily insert an excel worksheet into Word. In today’s tutorial we’ll learn how to easily we can add Excel and Word docs into a PowerPoint slide (pptx/ ppt file) .

Inserting an Excel spreadsheet into a PowerPoint 2016 presentation:

• Open your PowerPoint file and click on the slide where your document has to be placed.
• Then, click on Insert in the ribbon and select Object.

• Check on Create from file.

• Hit browse, select your Excel spreadsheet and click Open to insert excel spreadsheet.

Embedding a Word doc in PowerPoint 2016:

• Open your PowerPoint presentation and click on the slide where your document has to be placed.
• Select Object in the Insert ribbon.

• Check on Create from file.

• Hit browse, select your Word document and click Open to insert your Word document.

Embed new documents:

Embedding a new documents allows us to create a new documents inside the PowerPoint presentation slide.

Embed new Excel 2016 worksheets:

• In your PowerPoint presentation, click on the slide where your new document has to be placed.
• Now, click Insert in the ribbon and select Object.
• In the object type, to insert excel spreadsheet select Microsoft Excel worksheet and click OK.

Embed new Word 2016 instances:

• In your PowerPoint presentation, click on the slide where your new document has to be placed.
• Now, click Insert in the ribbon and select Object.
• In the object type, to insert word document select Microsoft Word Document and click OK.