filling forms using OpenOffice

[coverup]

Occasionally, I need to fill out some forms created using MSoffice and saved as RTF files. The forms contain checkboxes, you know those that when you click them a window pops up prompting you to select "Checked" or "Unchecked". When I open the form using OpenOffice (I think I have version 2.x.x), I only see a very narrow vertical gray bar in the place where the checkbox should be. If I hover the mouse over the bar, a yellow info box appears confirming that this is a checkbox, but clicking the gray bar produces no result. Does anybody have a solution?

[neddie]

I had no idea you could do checkboxes in rtf documents, I thought it was limited to simple text formatting like font size and bold and stuff.

 

But a few seconds of searching ("rtf checkbox") brought up the idea that it might be relying on the wingdings font, which I'm guessing OpenOffice can't find. That might be a clue.

[coverup]

I had no idea you could do checkboxes in rtf documents, I thought it was limited to simple text formatting like font size and bold and stuff.

 

But a few seconds of searching ("rtf checkbox") brought up the idea that it might be relying on the wingdings font, which I'm guessing OpenOffice can't find. That might be a clue.

It looks like it's a script thing. In MSWord, if I click a checkbox, a small window appears with several radio buttons, where one must choose the status "Checked/Unchecked". No such thing happens if I open the document in OOwriter. Regrettably, compatibility between OpenOffice and MSWord is still a myth.

 

Edit: I should have mentioned that the form was likely prepared using one of the latest versions of MS Office, if that matters.

Edited May 12, 2009 by coverup