The Plain Text control is most similar to the Legacy Text form field. The screen shot shows what they look like unselected (top) and selected (bottom). Here’s a look at each type: Plain Text and Rich Text While Legacy Form Fields have only 3 types (Text field, Checkbox and Dropdown), there are 9 (or 10, depending on how you count) types of Content Controls. Unfortunately, the tools to add and modify them are still not in the program. Word 20 can’t use or create them, but in Word 2016 for Mac, the program started honoring Content Controls created in Windows, so they work as expected on both platforms. The collection of controls was expanded a little in 2010 and a little more in 2013. These were introduced on Windows in Word 2007. They don’t work at all on Mac versions of Word.įinally, we have the newest type of form fields, Content Controls. Windows version also have ActiveX controls. These are the only form fields available in the Mac program interface. Legacy form fields require the document to be protected for forms, which closes down many formatting options even on unprotected sections.

The oldest of these are Legacy Form Fields, which exist in every version of Word, Windows and Mac, but not DOS, back to the dawn of time. Microsoft Word for Windows has three different types of fields to use for fillable forms. I show you how to sidestep this limitation to be able to create superior fillable forms. Content Controls are an improved form of fillable form field, but the Word for Mac user interface doesn’t include Content Controls for macOS.

Control to search page on mac