Word 2007 – Change default text control text

microsoft-word-2007

When inserting a text box using the developer tab in Word 2007, by default the inserted text box says "Click here to enter text".

How can I change this to something different?

Best Answer

Simple

Add your text box.

On the developer tab, select "Design mode"

Don't just leave the text selected, click ESC then reselect across the prompt text (select everything between the strange box bracket things)

Overtype the text with your chosen prompt

Close design mode

An extra tip: if you open the styles pane and change the options to make sure you can see all styles, you can change the look of the "placeholder text" style - I usually do this to something pretty harsh like bold and dark red, to make sure that these bits stand out until someone fills them in.

2nd extra tip: you can change the properties of the content control as well, such as adding a title (which survives after the prompt text has been overtyped), and setting things such as that the control cannot be deleted (for mandatory fields), or that the control is removed and replaced by the text once typed on (to make a cleaner finished document). To get at properties, select the control by its frame and click "properties" on the developer ribbon.

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