Hide a control based on values on the form

In Microsoft Office InfoPath, you can use conditional formatting to specify different formatting options for a control that is based on conditions that occur on the form. If the specified conditions are true when a user fills out a form that is based on your form template, the conditional formatting is applied.

This article explains how to use conditional formatting to hide a control that is based on the value of another control on your form template. For example, you can add conditional formatting to ensure that a text box for a driver's license number is hidden unless the user enters an appropriate age into another control on the form.

In this article

Before you begin

Compatibility considerations

Hide a control based on values on the form

Before you begin

In order to complete this procedure, you must have at least two controls on your form template — one control that you want to hide and a second control whose value will determine the state of the first control.

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Compatibility considerations

When you design a form template in InfoPath, you can choose a specific compatibility mode to design a browser-compatible form template. When a browser-compatible form template is published to a server running InfoPath Forms Services, and then browser-enabled, forms based on the form template can be viewed in a Web browser. When you design a browser-compatible form template, some controls are unavailable in the Controls task pane because they cannot be displayed in a Web browser.

List of controls that can be hidden by using conditional formatting

The following table lists the Office InfoPath 2007 controls that can be hidden by using conditional formatting and whether they are available for browser-compatible form templates.

Controls that can be hidden	Available for browser-compatible form templates?
Combo box	No
Horizontal repeating table	No
Multiple-selection list box	No
Ink picture	No
Picture	No
Vertical label	No
Choice section	No
Repeating recursive section	No
Master/Detail	No
File attachment	Yes
Text box	Yes
Expression box	Yes
Section	Yes
Optional section	Yes
Repeating section	Yes
Repeating table	Yes
Rich text box	Yes
Button	Yes
Option button	Yes
Drop-down list box	Yes
List box	Yes
Check box	Yes

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Hide a control based on values on the form

1. On the form template, click the control that you want to hide.

2. On the Format menu, click Conditional Formatting.

3. In the Conditional Formatting dialog box, click Add.

4. Under If this condition is true, set the condition that you want. For example, to hide the control that you selected in step 1 only when a certain value is entered into another control on the form template, select that second control in the first box, and then specify the value that will determine whether to hide the control that you selected in step 1.

5. Under Then apply this formatting, click Hide this control.

6. To save the condition and return to the form template, click OK twice.

7. To test your changes, click Preview on the Standard toolbar, or press CTRL+SHIFT+B.

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