When you are working with Microsoft Office Word 2013, it can be useful to know how to create fillable forms that you can send to other people to fill out digitally.  Today we will teach you how to create fillable forms for surveys, information gathering, or for quizzes and tests.  While there are many third party applications you can use that are specifically made for form creation, you can also create highly functional forms using Word 2013.

First Things First

When you decide to begin creating fillable forms with Microsoft Office Word 2013, you need to begin by enabling the “Developer Tools.”  Begin by clicking on the “File” dropdown menu followed by clicking on “Options.”  In this window, click on “Customize Ribbon” and open the “Main Tabs” option under “Customize the Ribbon.”  Lastly, you need to check the “Developer” box and click on the “OK” button

File > Options > Customize Ribbon > Main Tabs > Developer > OK

Once this process is done, the Developer options have been enabled and you will see a brand new menu on the top left corner of your Word window.

Decide whether you want to Use Templates

After enabling the Developer menu, you will need to decide whether you want to use a template or if you want to create a brand new form from scratch.  If you do decide to use a template, you will need to click on “File” and select “New” to create a new document.

In the new document window, you simply enter the word “Form” to perform a search for all the form templates that you can use.

  Now that you have loaded all the form templates, you can filter your selection by clicking on the items on the right panel.  After you find the form that meets your needs, simply click on it, and download it by clicking on “Create.”  Once you have created your new document based on the template, simply edit it to suit your needs.

Since that is the easy method, we will not go into the details of editing these forms.  You can skip ahead to the next section to learn how to use the Developer tools to edit form fields to edit templates or build your brand new forms from scratch.

Create a New Form

Begin by opening a new blank document.  After creating your blank document, you can begin by creating your questions or populating your form.  In this case I will be creating a simple form used to collect some basic information from the users.  Note that the items in the brackets are the type of response field we will insert using the Developer menu.

1. First and Last Name (Text Response)
2. Age (Drop-Down List)
3. Favorite fruit and why: (Combo Box)
4. D.O.B. (Date Response)
5. Sex (Check Box)

Once you have entered the 5 questions without the section in brackets, click on the “Developer” tool that you enabled earlier.  Once you have opened up the Developer tab, select “Design Mode” from the “Controls.”  This will allow you to begin creating the response sections which are called “Controls.”

Plain Text Response

If your question requires a text response, you can add a “Rich Text Content Control” (allows people to edit formatting) or a “Plain Text Content Control” (does not allow people to edit formatting).

Simply move your cursor to the space where you want to enter the control and click on the button that meets your response requirements.  If you want to edit the Content Control box contents, simply click inside them and enter a prompt for form fillers to see.

Drop-Down Lists and Combo Boxes

If your question requires the form filler to choose from a list of predetermined answers such as age, you can add a drop-down list control box with ages or ranges of ages.  After you have added the Content Control to your document you can right click on it and click on “Properties” to edit the drop-down list contents.  Click on the “Add” button to add ages or age ranges as needed.

Alternatively, you can select the “Combo Box” Content Control to allow users to select from a drop down list and hen enter any qualifying text.  Try to add this Content Control to question 3.  Similarly to the text box Content Control. You can edit the text prompt that form fillers will see.

Date Picker

For the date of birth, you will need to click on the “Date Picker Content Control” option.  This will allow users to click on the field and select the appropriate date from a popup calendar.  This is useful for asking people to provide their D.O.B, the current date, or any other dates.

Check Boxes

If you want to add check boxes, you can simply click on the “Checkbox Content Control” option and insert checkboxes behind every option.   Remember that the Content Control box will appear wherever you place your cursor.

Wrapping Up

That is pretty much all there is to creating fillable forms with Microsoft Office Word 2013. It is a good idea to play around with the settings to see what sort of results you can achieve.  This will help you to master the Content Control feature and enable you to become a master form crafter.