Advice on Inserting Text Dependent on Formfield/Content Control

[fumei]

And I concur. However, you mentioned the user changing their selection.

You still have the same issue, regardless of whether it is inductive (adding via AutoText or BuildingBlocks), or deductive (removing via bookmarks).

If they make a selection, and that causes the insertion of content via AutoText, then once it is inserted it is NOT identified as such. It becomes just like any other chunk of text. That is, unless you explicitly make it identified.

Other BuildingBlock content...well, I will let Greg handle that.

On the other hand, if it is an adding (even with "ordinary" AutoText), and it is inserted at a bookmark, then it IS identifiable, and can be removed if the user changes the selection of the driopdown.

The point being is you have to really think this through.

[Shred Dude]

And I concur. However, you mentioned the user changing their selection.

You still have the same issue, regardless of whether it is inductive (adding via AutoText or BuildingBlocks), or deductive (removing via bookmarks).

If they make a selection, and that causes the insertion of content via AutoText, then once it is inserted it is NOT identified as such. It becomes just like any other chunk of text. That is, unless you explicitly make it identified.

Other BuildingBlock content...well, I will let Greg handle that.

On the other hand, if it is an adding (even with "ordinary" AutoText), and it is inserted at a bookmark, then it IS identifiable, and can be removed if the user changes the selection of the driopdown.

The point being is you have to really think this through.

Gerry:

Thanks for the feedback.

I have a question about your comment on not being able to identify the text after it's been placed in the document, unless at a bookmark.

What about ContentControls? It seems I can get to that text.
[VBA]
?activedocument.SelectContentControlsByTag("testdata").Item(1).Range.Text
12345

activedocument.SelectContentControlsByTag("testdata").Item(1).Range.Text = "New Stuff"
?activedocument.SelectContentControlsByTag("testdata").Item(1).Range.Text
New Stuff

[/VBA]

Reading through these forums I find much less posted on Content Controls than other methods. I'm new to doing more in depth stuff in Word, and as such have grabbed onto the "newer" stuff I guess. Maybe I just like the way the Content Controls look.

Am I constraining myself by using them in a template as opposed to Bookmarks, for example to designate the destination(s) for text I'd be bringing in programatically from other sources?

Maybe I'm still thinking of Templates in a less than ideal way. If I only want to use the template to create a document programatically, then no value to the visual nature of the ContentControls I guess. But, if I want to throw a bunch of data onto a form via code, and then let the user cruise around on it and make some edits before wrapping things up, then the Content Controls seem like a good thing. You can put descriptive Titles on them, but still have a concise Tag property to use in code, can do Date Pickers, and as I'm just beginning to learn more about can have Building Block Galleries to select from.

Are the Content Controls just not as widely adopted as Bookmarks, or are there some serious limitations I'm not seeing?

Thanks again...