Instant Envelopes Using the MACROBUTTON Field and VBA

Microsoft Word offers a bunch of fields that you can use to do some really cool stuff. If you wanted to have the name of a document automatically inserted into a document, you would add the FILENAME field. If you wanted table cells automatically numbered, you could enter the AUTONUM field. This article will concentrate on the MACROBUTTON field.

With this field, you can run a macro (a set of recorded or programmed commands) right from within a document. It's a great way to help out users who don't understand Word very well. Rather than telling them to click here and click there, you can just display words or an image right inside the document and have them click it to run whatever commands you need, by running a macro that contains your preprogrammed commands.

This is the first of two articles. In this article I'll show you how to set up a master letter template form, code a macro for envelope printing and add a macro button field to your template to allow you to double click the field and have the address in your letter automatically printed to an envelope. Next month, I'll show you how to add an image to the macro button, such as a picture of an envelope or command button, as well as show you a trick with VBA code to turn the macro button's default double click into a single click field.

Fields
There are many fields you can use in Word. And Word's Help files provide all the info you need to learn about each field. The only problem is that there's a bit of a trick to finding the help info you need. If you highlight a field in the Insert/Field dialog box and hit F1 for help, either your Office Assistant will jump out and ask you what you want or you'll get the help dialog telling how to get help in Word! So here's a little trick to make it easy to find what you need.

Click Insert/Field to open the Field dialog box. Find the field you want by either opening one of the categories in the left column of the dialog box, or by choosing All from the left and scrolling down the full list in the right column to find the one you want. When you find the field you want details about, click once to highlight it. Once highlighted, click the little question mark button [?] in the upper/right of the dialog. This is your Help button. Now go click on the highlighted field again.

This will bring up the correct Help dialog providing you with all the info you need to learn about that particular field.

How Efficient Are You?
The macro button field will run any macro by double clicking on whatever image or words you've added to the field to represent it on your page. Say you recorded a macro of the steps you take to print an envelope. Now whenever you need to print an envelope you can highlight the address in the letter, click Tools/Macro/Macro, find that envelope macro, highlight it and click Run to have the highlighted address inserted into the Envelope dialog. Then you can click Print.

But then, wouldn't it be just as easy to highlight the address and click Tools/Envelopes and Labels/Envelope and click Print? Since efficiency for using software is judged by how quickly you can perform any task in a given program, both of these steps are about the same amount of clicks. They'd both take you about the same amount of time to perform, so. Why bother with a macro?

A shorter way to do it would be to add the Envelope shortcut icon to a toolbar or custom menu. Then you can just highlight the address in your letter and click the envelope shortcut. This will bring up the envelope dialog box with the highlighted address inserted so you only need to click Print to print the envelope. Not bad. But I even have trouble remembering where I put shortcuts or icons sometimes, or maybe I've added so many custom icons to my main toolbar that many are now hidden off the screen which means I have to hunt for it. That's still not as efficient as having a print command right in my letter template!

Note! To learn how to add the envelope shortcut to a toolbar, see this article: Letter Wizard. And to learn how to customize your toolbars and menus, see this article: Customizing Word Toolbars.

I'm going to teach you how to write a little code and set up your template so you can print an address with a double click!

Create a Master Letter Template
The first thing you'll need is a master letter template with a form field inserted where you'll enter the recipient's address. You must at least use this one field, so you can tell the macro where to find the address in the letter.

Open a blank template in Word by clicking File/New and checking the Template option in the lower/right portion of the dialog box. Start by adding a date field, so you'll always have the current date on your letter. Click Insert/Field/CreateDate. This will automatically provide the current date to each new letter you create from this master template. Be sure to click Options on the Field dialog box and adjust the date format to the one you want.

Setup your master letterhead in whatever way you want. Then move to the location where you'll be entering the Recipient's Address. Click View/Toolbars and turn on the Forms Toolbar. Where you want the recipient address, insert a Text form field from the Forms Toolbar. If you're not sure which one that is, hover your mouse over the first button and you'll see the tooltip tell you which one is the Text field. Click to enter it into your template. You can also add one for the Salutation and Letter text, if you want. Your template should now look like the image below.

Note! Our blind readers should know that you can click Tools/Customize/Keyboard. In the left Categories command select All Commands. In the right Commands list select Text Form Field and you can then assign the Insert Text Form Field command to a keystroke combination. If you add it to a menu, it will appear on the menu as Edit Box, so the hotkey will be Alt/E.

To have your screen look like the image above, you need to make sure you have your fields shaded and your bookmarks turned on. So click Tools/Options/View and check the Fields shading, then also check the Bookmarks on so you can see the brackets that represent the bookmarks in the field.

Double click in the recipient form field in your template to open its Options dialog box (or right click the field and choose Properties). There you should give the field a proper bookmark name. Something more recognizable than Text1, which will be the default. I'm using bkRecipient as you can see in the image below. You can also add default text. I've added Type recipient name here! to remind me what needs to be typed in this field.

When you close this dialog, you should see the field(s) displayed as in the image below.

To make the form field work, you need to Lock your template by clicking Tools/Protect Document/Forms.

Now when you want to write a letter, you can click File/New, retrieve your template form and start typing your letter, by hitting the Tab button to jump from field to field, entering the needed information as you go.

Record a Macro
Now we'll record an envelope macro and write a little VBA code to make it work. Don't worry if you've never written any code before—I'll show you what to do. Then we'll use the MACROBUTTON field to insert our macro into the master letter template. From then on, whenever you have a letter and need to print an envelope, you'll just need to double click the macro button text that'll be displayed right in your letter to have the address printed to an envelope.

We'll start the macro by recording some of it and then we'll go into the code editor and enhance the code. Click Tool/Macro/Record Macro or just double click the tiny REC button at the bottom/middle of your Word window. This will open the Record Macro dialog box. Give your macro a name.

Note! Be sure you click the Store macro in: drop down and choose your master template. This way, the macro will travel with your master template should you move it or pass it to a colleague. If you put the macro in your Normal.dot (default template), there's a good chance it won't work in the future!

After you give it a name and set the template where the macro should be stored, click OK. The Macro Recorder toolbar will appear and all your steps will now be recorded, so try not to make a mistake or it too will be recorded!

Click Tools/Envelopes and Labels/Envelope in Word 2000. In Word 2002, click Tools/Letters and Mailing/Envelopes and Labels/Envelopes. Make sure all the Options are properly set for the envelope size and letter feed position. These settings will be recorded into the macro, so make sure you have the settings you'll always want to use.

And also be sure that you've selected Manual Feed for the print tray. This way you won't accidentally print your envelope on a sheet of paper. The printer will go into manual mode and wait for you to come feed in an envelope. Just remember to go feed it, so you're not holding up other print jobs. If you have an automatic envelope feed tray, select that tray.

Once you're sure everything is set the way you'll need it, click Print. Realize that this will cause a blank envelope to print. Go feed one in so it'll resume regular mode.

Now stop the macro recorder by either clicking the square stop button on the recorder toolbar or clicking Tools/Macro/Stop Recording.

Modifying the VBA Code
Now we need to go into the Visual Basic Editor (VBE) to make a few modifications to the code so it'll work correctly. Click Tools/Macro/Macro. Select the name of the macro you just recorded and click Edit. You can also hit Alt/F11 to enter the VBE, but if you're not familiar with it, it'll be easier to go in this way so you'll instantly be located within the macro code you need to edit—which will be the NewMacros module within the template project you're creating.

You should see VBA code similar to mine below.

We need to add a little code. The name of my macro sub procedure is called Sub EnvelopePrint(). After that line, I will hit enter and type the following code. You do the same and type it exactly as I've typed it.

Dim myAddress As String

myAddress = ActiveDocument.FormFields("bkRecipient").Result

If you're not familiar with VBA code, not to worry. As long as you've typed it the exact same, it'll work. Just realize that the "bkRecipient" name is the name of my form field bookmark that I previously entered into the form field options dialog. If you used a different name, add that same name here between the quotes.

The first line, Dim myAddress As String, declares or dimensions your variable. In other words, it tells your computer that you will be passing it some information as a string of text so it should put a small portion of memory space on the side to be ready for this information when it arrives.

The next line, myAddress = ActiveDocument.FormFields("bkRecipient").Result, sets the variable. It tells Word, ok...my variable (the virtual bucket that will hold the info I send it) will be called myAddress and I want you to put into this variable, whatever information you eventually find (when the code runs) that will be sitting in the results of the form field called bkRecipient. In other words, it sets the variable equal to the bkRecipient form field results. That way, when you run the code, whatever address is typed into that form field will be extracted into this variable in your computers temporary memory and will be inserted into the envelope's address field when the envelope is printed.

But before that happens, you need to put the variable in the address location of the recorded code. Look for the portion of the envelope code that says: Address:="", and delete the two current quotes and replace them with the name of your variable. The two current quotes tell the address to print nothing! Because there is nothing between the quotes. If you did have some information in the envelope dialog when you recorded the macro, there may be some info in there. But you don't want anything in there because you will be telling the code to use the information from your variable as the address. And if you remember, the information in the variable will eventually be whatever is typed into the bkRecipient form field when you run this code. So change the Address:="", code to read Address:=myAddress, by replacing the quotes with the name of your variable.

There is one final problem we need to work around with some new code. The template must be locked (Protected) to get the form fields to work when you tab into them. But if the form is locked, you won't be able to click the MACROBUTTON form field we'll be putting in the template. So will soon be adding a section break into the template. This will lock part of the page, but leave part of it open. However, the envelope code we recorded won't work properly from the protected code, so we need to write a quick routine that will instantly unlock the form and then instantly relock it after the envelope command is activated.

After the last line of your Envelope macro, hit the Enter key and type the following new code, exactly as I have.

Note! If you will not be using a Password, then do not include the blue text in the code below, which begins with the word Password in the Unprotect code line and begins with the comma after the word True in the Protect code line. Also, be sure to enter the name of your password between the quotes where I now have DiansPassword typed.

Sub ToggleDocProtection()
     If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType = wdAllowOnlyFormFields Then
          ActiveDocument.Unprotect Password:="DiansPassword"
     Else
          ActiveDocument.Sections(1).ProtectedForForms = False
          ActiveDocument.Sections(2).ProtectedForForms = True
          ActiveDocument.Protect Type:=wdAllowOnlyFormFields, NoReset:=True, Password:="DiansPassword"
     End If
End Sub

And finally, you'll add the call to this routine within your previous macro so it Toggles the protection on/off before and after the envelope code. In other words, the original macro will set up the variable. Then it will quickly call the Toggle code which unlocks the form, runs the envelope and quickly locks it again on the second call, all in a nanosecond. The final code should look like this:

Sub EnvelopePrint()

Dim myAddress As String

myAddress = ActiveDocument.FormFields("bkRecipient").Result

ToggleDocProtection

ActiveDocument.Envelope.PrintOut ExtractAddress:=False, OmitReturnAddress _
     :=False, PrintBarCode:=False, PrintFIMA:=False, Height:=InchesToPoints( _
     4.13), Width:=InchesToPoints(9.5), Address:=myAddress, AutoText:= _
     "ToolsCreateLabels3", ReturnAddress:="MouseTrax Computing Solutions", _
     ReturnAutoText:="ToolsCreateLabels4", AddressFromLeft:=wdAutoPosition, _
     AddressFromTop:=wdAutoPosition, ReturnAddressFromLeft:=wdAutoPosition, _
     ReturnAddressFromTop:=wdAutoPosition, DefaultOrientation:=wdLeftLandscape _
     , DefaultFaceUp:=True

ToggleDocProtection

End Sub
________________________________________

Sub ToggleDocProtection()
     If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType = wdAllowOnlyFormFields Then
          ActiveDocument.Unprotect Password:="DiansPassword"
     Else
          ActiveDocument.Sections(1).ProtectedForForms = False
          ActiveDocument.Sections(2).ProtectedForForms = True
          ActiveDocument.Protect Type:=wdAllowOnlyFormFields, NoReset:=True, Password:="DiansPassword"
     End If
End Sub

Realize that some of the original envelope code you recorded may be slightly different depending on your system. But make sure all the code we manually typed in is the same, except for any bookmark or password name modifications.

Press Ctrl/S to save the code and close the VBE to return to your template.

The MACROBUTTON Field
You have your macro finished, now you need to add the MACROBUTTON field. In this lesson, I'll show you how to add it by default. Next month in part two of this lesson, I'll show you how to enhance it by adding an image and changing the click default to one click, with a little extra VBA code.

Open your master template (if it's not still open). Do not open it by using File/New; you must open the file with File/Open and then go find it. If you double click it or open it via the File/New dialog, you will not be opening the master template! You'll be creating a document from the letter template. Therefore, none of the changes you do to it will be saved to the master template. So when you open the file, check the file name in the title bar of Word to make sure it says dot and not doc.

Place your cursor at some out of the way location, such as near the top and click Insert/Field. Locate the MACROBUTTON field and click it. Then click Options in the Field dialog. Locate your macro in the macro list and click Add to Field. Then add some text as the display text that will show up in the field. Be sure to wrap the display text in quotes. See the image below for details.

Click OK to back out of the Field dialog box. You'll then see that you have a field in your letter that had the words you typed into the field displayed.

If you highlight the field and hit Shift/F9, you'll convert the text into its code and you'll see the details that you entered into the Field dialog which are now hidden under the display text.

And speaking of hidden, since you don't want the macro button display text showing on your printed letter, highlight the code and click Format/Font and choose Hidden from the options at the bottom of the Font dialog box, or click Ctrl/Shift/H to apply hidden formatting to the code.

This may cause your code to disappear if you don't have the option to View hidden text turned on. If so, click Tools/Options/View and check the Hidden Text option so you'll be able to see it on your screen. You should now see the display text with tiny dots under it. Those tiny dots signify that the text is hidden.

However, you'll also have to make sure that you don't have the option to Print hidden text turned on or it'll still print! So click Tools/Options/Print and make sure the Hidden Text option on that dialog is not checked.

One last step for this part of the lesson. Place your cursor just after the field code and click Insert/Break/Continuous to enter a section break. Remember in the toggle procedure we wrote, it said to set the protection in section one to False, but the protection in section two as True. This will lock the form so the fields will work, but leave the macro code unprotected so you'll be able to double click to access it and run the code.

You'll need to click the Show/Hide button to see the Section Break. In the image below, you'll see the page with the section code displayed and you'll see Rocky is pointing to the Show/Hide icon, which looks like a backward P.

And that's it for the basics! You can now resave your master template. When you need to type a letter, click File/New and retrieve your master template to create your letter document. After you've typed your letter, double click this macro button code and your macro will access the address you typed into the form field, pass it to the variable in the code and print your envelope with that address on it. Just remember to click Tools/Protect Document and manually protect it for forms only in section two.

The follow-up article to this one is now available. See the Enhancing the MACROBUTTON Field article from the September issue of TechTrax to learn how to add an image to your envelope macro button and change the activation to a single click.

Need more help getting your VBA code working right? Join our free VBA support groups. See these links for details: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Word_VBA/ and/or http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ExcelVBA/.