-----Original Message-----
From: main@jfw.groups.io [mailto:main@jfw.groups.io] On Behalf Of Ann Byrne
Sent: Monday, November 16, 2020 12:54 PM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: form fields in word

Often the cursor is placed at the end of a form. Left arrow often finds the
text. then you can use home to get to the beginning. sometimes pressing
ctrl+a to select the text makes JAWS speak it. If you are sure there is
text, though, arrow left and it might just magically appear.

Good luck!
At 11:37 AM 11/16/2020, you wrote:

Maybe you can copy and paste it to a fresh notepad document to give you
a chance to read it so you know what it says.

Justin


From: main@jfw.groups.io [mailto:main@jfw.groups.io] On Behalf Of
Cynthia Bruce
Sent: Monday, November 16, 2020 12:28 PM
To: main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: form fields in word

Hi Brian,

These are forms my students have completed. I tried the key commands
you listed, but nothing seems to happen.

From: <mailto:main@jfw.groups.io>main@jfw.groups.io
<<mailto:main@jfw.groups.io>main@jfw.groups.io> On Behalf Of Brian
Vogel
Sent: November 16, 2020 1:14 PM
To: <mailto:main@jfw.groups.io>main@jfw.groups.io
Subject: Re: form fields in word

Cynthia,

Are you being tasked with looking at forms that others have
already filled out? If so, you might want to consider converting the
whole form to "straight MS-Word document" format, even if just for the
purpose of reading, and not saving the result if it must remain as a
fillable form. If it does not need to remain that way after you've
received it for processing, and you may need to refer to it later, I'd
save the "converted to normal MS-Word document" version for filing
purposes.

When dealing with fillable Word forms as the person
filling them out, unless you have your screen reader echoing
character-by-character as you type, you will hear nothing as you fill
out a form field. This is a quirk of how these are processed by Word.
You've got to complete the filling in, tab to the next
field/checkbox/whatever, then Shift+TAB back to get your text that you
filled in read.

----------------------------------
What follows presumes the designer of the fillable form did what they
should have and imposed editing restrictions such that the original
recipient was only able to traverse the fillable parts and interact
with them. Also that they did not password protect these settings as
well, otherwise you'd have to know the password to complete the removal
of editing restrictions.

Unprotecting All Word Form Fields and Converting Them to Regular Text

1. You must first remove the restricted editing settings that
allow you only to fill out the form

a. Activate the Developer Tab, Restrict Editing. ALT+L,PE

b. Activate the Stop Protection button, which is the only
button. Just Hit Enter

c. Close the Restrict Editing pane. CTRL+Spacebar,C

2. Select all content in the document. CTRL+A

3. Issue the command to convert all form fields to regular
Word text. CTRL+SHIFT+F9

At this point all form fields will be straight text like the rest of
the document, and can be edited just as you usually would. You cannot
reverse this action, so be certain you have filled out anything that
needs to have been filled out before going through the above steps.
--

Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 2004, Build 19041

The purpose of education is not to validate ignorance but to overcome it.
~ Lawrence Krauss