Insoluble Form Problem

[ChrisGreaves]

This is not a complaint; honest. I decided to apply as a volunteer in an effort to spend time with Spanish-speaking people. I suspect the first thing I should do is fix up their application form.
The form is emailed to me as a Microsoft Word document; I am asked to fill it in and email it back to them.
The form is not protected, OK. They are good at immigration and job issues, they are not Microsoft Word experts.
I set OVERSTRIKE mode on and start typing.
My “Last Name” goes in fine.
Then things go awry.

oVERSTRIKEmODE.png

Turns out the first “field” (Last Name) is populated with space characters, so Overstrike works well here.
Remaining fields are populated with Tab characters, so in Overstrike mode I quickly write over the “fake white space” and start gobbling up character strings such as “Apt./Unit” and the like.
I could clean up the form, I suppose, before trying to load it with typed data; or I could print it out, fill it in by hand and take a photograph of it and email the image, but then they’d just have to type my data again, and perhaps make some transcription errors.

Am I right in thinking that with this sort of document there is no easy way for the regular user (let alone a freak like me) to type data in without getting into an awful mess?

Default tab stops (on my machine) are set at “1.27 cm”.
I tried doing Edit-Replace, replacing each tab stop (^t) with ten soft space characters. The result is not perfect, but it works, sort of.
Of course now I wonder what they do with my data? Do they copy-and-paste each item into a database? Or do they just print the thing out and drop it in a big metal filing-cabinet. If the latter, I may as well just print-and-photograph the thing.

[HansV]

The document is a mess indeed. I'd leave Overtype mode off, type in the data, then use the Delete key a few times to compensate for the space the text takes up. I wouldn't bother trying to align the text exactly as it was originally.

[HansV]

Oh, and I'm pretty sure your form would be soluble in nitric acid...

[Rudi]

I agree with Hans.
Switch off overTYPE mode and just type in your data, deleting what needs to be to return the form to its original structure.

[ChrisGreaves]

The document is a mess indeed. I'd leave Overtype mode off,...

Thanks Hans and Rudi.
Given my 20+ years in converting/cleansing documents I was pretty sure that it was awful; it helps to have confirmation from three experts (well, two humans, but one of them has duplicates in his head )
Now the organization is asking me to email the form back ("... we haven't received it ...") and I'm in a quandry.
I wonder exactly how other people fill in the form prior to emailing it back, or whether would-be volunteers just assume that since they "aren't smart enough" to fill in the form they probably shouldn't apply, or whether they just print it out and mail it in!

I'm also struggling to edit my response to "Why do you wish to volunteer at the Centre?", especially toning down my comments on people who shouldn't be turned loose in MSW, the poor standards of education in Ontario, today's THREE separate closures of our transit system, deficiencies in the Toronto Public Library system, the high price of ... and my overly-strong hints that I'd only consider volunteering if they'd make my first job re-writing their form!

Another couple of days should see me cooled down enough.
Make's Rudi's situation seem downright idyllic, you ask me ...

[Rudi]

I'll see your Insoluble Form and raise you a Tamper-proof Template. (This is no bluff!)

[DaveA]

With what I see of this document, it is a clean one compared to most that I have gotten from others.

I teach Word at the local library and we get not only Spanish-speaking people, but from the Asian and Middle East areas.
Some have typewriter experience and some computer use. Luckily, most of the students do speak and understand English pretty good.

I have found that the hardest to get through to are the older typewriter users. The use of tabs and spaces where the indent, sing tabs and singe spaces should be used. They do not want to take the time to set up the tabs or indents as they should be.

[Helen]

I am new to WP and form builder.

I am having a problem with the date field in form builder. The input field appears on top of the field name.

Can some one help me?

[HansV]

Welcome to Eileen's Lounge!

By WP, do you mean WordPerfect? I don't know if we have any WordPerfect experts...

[Rudi]

It could mean Word Processing
It could even mean Word Press?