Office programs you can use to create an online or printed form
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You can create a form in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel,
Microsoft FrontPage, or Microsoft Outlook. Most of these programs provide sample forms you can use "as is" or as a starting point for creating custom forms. Word, for example, provides several common business forms, including invoices, purchase orders, and weekly time sheets. Access provides sample databases that include various types of forms you can modify to suit your needs. Access also has the Form Wizard that generates questions and then uses your answers to automatically lay out and format your form.
- Use either Word or Access when you want to create a form that contains complex formatting, pictures, linked objects, embedded objects, check boxes, drop-down lists, or text areas that have specific data types, formatting, and default text. In either program, you can create forms you fill in on your computer and forms you print and then fill in on paper. You can also set conditions for adding data to a form, include macros that run automatically, and provide Help messages that make it easier for others to complete a form. Additionally, in Access, you can include Visual Basic for Applications code that runs automatically, and you can provide ScreenTips that also make it easier for users to complete forms.
- Use Access when you need to collect and store a lot of data, when you need full relational database capabilities, when you want to generate a variety of reports from your data, or when you want to tie your forms together into a program.
- Use Excel when you want to create a form to collect information for use in calculations, analysis, or financial documents — for example, a mortgage table or customer quotes. To add information entered in the form to a database, use the Template Wizard with Data Tracking to create a form template. Each new form created from the template automatically creates a corresponding record in the database.
- Use FrontPage when you want to create a form on a Web page to collect information
from site visitors or to let visitors search for information on your Web
site. Web-based forms can also be used to create a virtual guestbook,
collect e-mail addresses for a mailing list, or submit online feedback as
an alternative to e-mail.
- Use Outlook Forms when you want to customize mail messages, appointments, and any other
Outlook item as an easy way to distribute and collect information electronically. By using Outlook forms, you can group and sort the information you collect, respond to information, and view information by conversation so that responses to the form are grouped with the original form.