I suppose it's possible that Ctrl+F9 has become unassigned on your copy of Word.
To check it:

Go to Tools Customize and click the Keyboard button. Select the category "All
Commands", and then select the command InsertFieldChars. The Current Keys box
should show Ctrl+F9. If it doesn't, then click in the "Press new shortcut key"
box and press Ctrl+F9, and click the Assign button.

On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:47:02 -0700, Dots wrote:

Hi Jay,
I am using 2002. Funny thing is when I do the Ctrl+F9 to get the field
markers, nothing happens.... I'll keep trying. Thanks for your help!

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

Sorry, it works for me, after converting the braces to field markers. Also
(as expected) it works the same in Word 2003 and 2007, and I have no reason
to expect different behavior in older versions.

What are the contents of the entries in Dropdown6? Are they literally N and
Y? And are the entries in the first 5 dropdowns all numbers?

And, in the same sense as the help desk question "Is it plugged in?", have
you checked to be sure forms protection is turned on?

Dots wrote:
Jay,
Here is the exact syntax I am using. Only Dropdown6 is set to recalc
on exit. The Calculated field still does not show the result of the
calculation. Can you check my syntax to see if I am missing any
special characters? In my review it appears to be set correctly?
I'd appreciate a 3rd eye.

{IF {Dropdown6} = Y {=
(({Dropdown1}*25)+({Dropdown2}*20)+({Dropdown3}*15 )+({Dropdown4}*20)+({Dropdown5}*5)+100)}
{
=(({Dropdown1}*25)+({Dropdown2}*20)+({Dropdown3}*1 5)+({Dropdown4}*20)+({Dropdown5}*5))}}

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

First, each occurrence of the name of any of the dropdowns must be
surrounded by field markers. This is easy to fix: Double-click an
occurrence to select it, and press Ctrl+F9 to put the markers around
it. Repeat for each of the others. (If they don't have field
markers, they're just valueless text as far as the calculation is
concerned.)

Second, the 0 and extra closing marker at the end of your formula
don't belong there. The general syntax of an IF field is

IF (condition) (value if true) (value if false)

In your formula, the condition is {Dropdown6} = "Y" and the two
"equals" fields are the true and false values, respectively; there's
no place in the syntax for that trailing 0.

Third, make sure that the "Calculate on exit" option is checked in
the Properties dialog of at least Dropdown6, and preferably for all
six dropdowns. If only Dropdown6 has that, then the formula will be
recalculated only when you exit that form field. If all of them have
it, the formula will be recalculated each time you leave any of the
fields.

A final note: it's a really good idea to change the names of the
form fields (in the Bookmark box of the Properties dialog) to
descriptive terms. Then change the names in the calculated field to
the same set of descriptive terms. It will make the calculations
much easier to understand, especially if you have to edit them
sometime later when you've forgotten how you put them together.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

Dots wrote:
I have a similar question. I have a calculated field that requires
the calculation from previous dropdown boxes. My formula, based on
this previous thread would look like this:
{IF {Dropdown6} = "Y"
{=((Dropdown1*25)+(Dropdown2*20)+(Dropdown3*15)+(D ropdown4*20)+(Dropdown5*5)+100)}

{=((Dropdown1*25)+(Dropdown2*20)+(Dropdown3*15)+(D ropdown4*20)+(Dropdown5*5))}
0}}

When I re-lock my form, I do not get any calculation in my form
field. What
am I doing wrong???

Thanks.

"Thomas" wrote:

Jay:

Thank you so much, this is exactly what I was looking for. It
works great! I was on your site today looking for this, but was
not able to figure it out. Thank you very much.

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

Thomas wrote:
I have a small table with 4 or 5 fields that calculate based on
the first fields value. However, I need one field to calculate
based on an IF function.

I know how to write it in excel:
=IF(SUM(H9*15%)1500,SUM(H9*15%),1500)

but how do I write something like this in Word? I need to write
a formula that can calculate 15% of the value in cell D1. If it
is greater that 1,500, place the calculated value in this field,
if it is not greater than 1,500, place 1,500 in this field.

Please Help

Using Ctrl+F9 to insert each matched pair of field braces, use
this syntax:

{IF {=(H9*15%)} 1500 {=(H9*15%)} 1500}

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all may benefit.