Your Microsoft Technology Development and Consulting Experts - Operating since 2000
Intuitive Form Solutions
Our team of Word design experts can deliver your document templates with fill in forms to take your data entry to the next level when it comes to simplicity, usability and intuitive design.
Instead of a template where every copy is filled in a little differently, locked content controls keep the layout, formatting and field order identical no matter who’s completing it, so the data coming back is consistent every time.
Every fill-in form is built from a small set of content controls. Open a row on the right to see what each one does and when they are used.
A single line of typed text with no line breaks, ideal for names, reference numbers or short answers. It can be set to reject anything but numbers or dates, so a staff member cannot accidentally type letters into a field meant for an invoice number.
Behaves like plain text but allows formatting, line breaks and even pasted content including bullet points. Useful for comment boxes, case notes or anywhere the person filling in the form needs more than one line to explain themselves.
Restricts the answer to a fixed list that is defined in advance, such as department names or approval statuses. This is one of the simplest ways to stop inconsistent spelling or formatting creeping into a form that several people fill in.
Opens a small calendar so that the date is always entered in the same format, rather than a mix of 12/3, 12-03-26 and March 12th appearing across different copies of the same form.
A simple on/off toggle for yes/no answers, consent statements or optional extras. Check boxes can also be linked so that ticking one automatically shows or hides another section of the form.
Lets the person filling in the form insert an image, such as a signature, a site photo for an inspection report, or a company logo, directly into a locked placeholder without disturbing the surrounding layout.
A form only stays consistent if the layout underneath it can’t be disturbed. That protection can be built two different ways in Word, and it matters which one your form uses, because they don’t mix well together.
We build almost every form using modern content controls with the surrounding text grouped, rather than the older “Restrict Editing → Filling in Forms” method built for legacy form fields. It’s the more reliable approach for documents opened across different versions of Word.
We Work From What You Already Have
Most of the forms we build start life as something you already use, a Word template, a printed checklist, or an old popup form that’s become awkward to maintain. We rebuild it as a proper fill-in form without losing the branding, tone or layout that your staff and clients already recognise.
An onboarding pack that's been filled in by hand or edited freehand for years, rebuilt as a locked form so new starters can't accidentally overwrite a heading or a table.
Site inspection and audit checklists with mandatory fields, so a form can't be marked complete until every required check box has genuinely been ticked.
Application and referral forms shared outside your organisation, built to stay on-brand and legible on any device the recipient happens to open it on.
2500+ Happy Clients
Read all case studies
A state government health department needed two internal forms on the same branded foundation as its other documents. We built both forms into its existing master template, converted them to editable PDFs using Adobe Acrobat Pro, and trained the client's team to make minor content changes themselves.
See the editable PDF forms
A government workplace safety authority's complex Word forms were inconsistent and easy to break. We rebuilt the suite with structured styles, content controls (dropdown lists, text-only fields, checkboxes and image placeholders), dynamic tables and document protection, so staff tab through guided fields without altering the layout or deleting mandatory content.
See the guided Word formsThe information entered into a Word form doesn't have to stay in the document. Content controls can capture structured data that can be extracted, checked and used elsewhere in your business. Invaluable to businesses using other Microsoft technologies.
Staff or clients complete the content controls in Word, either on screen or via a locked template shared by email or SharePoint. Validation and drop-downs keep every answer in a consistent format from the outset.
A macro steps through every content control in the document, reading each answer by its tag name rather than its position, so the form can be reordered later without breaking the extraction.
The extracted answers are written to an Excel tracking sheet, appended to an Access database, or emailed as a structured summary, ready for reporting without anyone retyping a single field.
Need the data somewhere more powerful than a spreadsheet? Our Access database and Power Platform specialists can connect your Word form directly to the business systems you already use.
Quote or
hourly rate
Ongoing
support
Remote access
or onsite
Tailored
training
A fill in form is a Word document built with content controls, such as text boxes, drop-down lists and check boxes, that let someone enter information into a fixed layout without being able to change the surrounding text or formatting.
Content controls are the modern way to build forms in Word, added from the Developer tab and locked individually using the Group command. Legacy form fields are the older technology, protected document-wide using Restrict Editing.
Yes. Word's Developer tab includes content controls for plain text, rich text, drop-down lists, date pickers, check boxes and pictures.
The layout is protected by locking each content control and grouping the surrounding text, which prevents anyone from typing outside the fields while still allowing them to complete the form normally.
Yes. A VBA macro can step through every content control in a completed form and read each answer out by its tag name, then write that data straight into an Excel tracking sheet, an Access database, or even a structured email.
Content controls are supported across recent versions of Word on both Windows and Mac, but older Word 2003-era legacy form fields behave differently on Mac and can render inconsistently.
Yes. Content controls can be set to reject blank entries, restrict a field to numbers or dates only, or limit an answer to a fixed list of options. This is particularly useful for compliance documents, where a form shouldn't be able to be finalised until every required field has been completed correctly.
Most single-purpose forms, such as an intake sheet or an internal request form, can be scoped, built and tested within a few business days. Forms with repeating sections, conditional logic or a data extraction step attached usually take a little longer.
Copyright © 2024. Brayalei Pty Ltd T/As Office Experts Group. ABN 32 093 067 737. ACN 093 067 737. All Rights Reserved.
consult@officeexperts.com.au
1300 102 810