Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Undesired Font in Form Fields.

Undesired Font in Form Fields

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 10, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365

Doug notes that he has a Word form, and the form fields are set up as 9-pt Arial. After the form is protected, when the fields are filled in by users, they display as 14-pt Arial Bold. He wonders why Word would change the formatting.

Quite honestly, this should not happen. There are a couple of things you should check, however. First, understand that when you insert a form field into a line of text, the form field adopts the formatting of the characters that surround it. Thus, if the field is inserted into a line of text that uses larger characters, then the form field will adopt that larger font. You'll want to explicitly change the formatting of the form field in this manner:

Select some text that has the same formatting characteristics you want applied to the form field.
Press Ctrl+Shift+C. This copies the formatting to the Clipboard.
Select the form field you want to format.
Press Ctrl+Shift+V. This pastes only the formatting to the form field.

Second, you should check to make sure that someone isn't inadvertently changing the formatting of the form field. For instance, if you insert the field and then format the line on which the field appears, the formatting that you apply to the line affects the field as well. Thus, if you apply a 14-pt format to the entire line, the 14-pt format will override the 9-pt format you previously applied to the form itself.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13389) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Undesired Font in Form Fields.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Adding Tabs at the Beginning of a Line

Press a tab at the beginning of a paragraph, and Word normally assumes you want to indent the paragraph. If you don't ...

Discover More

Undoing an Edit

We all make mistakes. Fortunately, Excel makes it rather easy to undo your makes, right after you make them.

Discover More

Getting Rid of an Unwanted AutoCorrect

Word uses its AutoCorrect feature to help improve your typing. Sometimes, however, AutoCorrect can cause problems with ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Converting Forms to Regular Documents

Word allows you to protect documents that are intended to be used as forms. If you want to convert the form responses ...

Discover More

Auto-incrementing Form Fields

Templates are a great way to create new documents because they act as intricate patterns to what those new documents ...

Discover More

Creating Traditional Forms

Do you use Word to create printed forms? If so, here's some ideas and techniques you can use to make those forms look as ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 4 + 8?

2023-01-05 12:07:09

Joan K.

I am having this issue on a form and have tried multiple ways of getting it to use the same font as the surrounding text. When unprotected, the fields show the correct 10 pt. font but change to 11 pt. when protected and filled. I've tried everything I can think of:

1. Highlighting the field and resetting the font size.
2. Highlighting the entire paragraph and resetting the font size.
3. Highlighting the entire document (Ctrl-A) and resetting the font size. (After I did this, the font size now changes from 10 pt. to 12 pt.)

I've worked with forms and form fields for many years and this has me stumped. Suggestions anyone?

2016-08-19 18:23:47

Ruby

I have the exact same issue and comment as Barbara from 7/12/16.

Why are the instructions for all versions the same; and

Ctrl+Shift+C and Ctrl+Shift+V did not work for me either.

2016-07-12 19:29:06

barbara

the directions for both old versions of Word and newer versions of Word are exactly the same...? I see the links are different but the 4 steps on each page are exactly the same.

The Ctrl+Shift+C and Ctrl+Shift+V did not work for me.

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.