Preview a form template

To help ensure that forms based on your form template will work as expected when users fill them out, you can preview your form template to test its appearance and functionality. You can preview your form template while you design it to test a particular control or functionality. It is also a good idea to preview your form template before you publish it.

In this article

Overview

Preview a form template

Preview a form template with a full trust or restricted security level

Preview a form template with a domain security level

Preview a form template with sample data

Overview

When you design a form template, you can use the preview feature to test the functionality and appearance of your form template. Previewing and testing your form template allows you to see and work with your form template from your users' perspective. When you click Preview on the Standard toolbar, a form based on your form template opens in a separate Preview window. You can then test your form template by entering data into the controls to check various features, such as text formatting, conditional formatting, rules, formulas, and data validation. If you are using security levels or have added user roles to your form template, you can also test these features when previewing your form template. Using the Preview window allows you to identify mistakes in the design of your form template and then quickly switch to the design window, where you can correct them. To help you identify which window you are in, Preview or Design appears in the title bar of each window.

If you use a consistent set of data to test your form template, you can improve the efficiency and accuracy of your tests by using a form with sample data rather than manually entering the data each time you preview the form template. Sample data is placeholder text that appears in controls on your form and provides an example of how the text will appear in the control when a user fills it out. Sample data can be seen only when you preview the form template.

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Preview a form template

1. To test a user role on your form template, specify which user role you want to test the form template with.

   How?

   1. On the Tools menu, click Form Options.

   2. In the Category list, click Preview.

   3. In the Preview as list, under User role, click the user role that you want to test.

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

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Preview a form template with a full trust or restricted security level

1. On the Tools menu, click Form Options.

2. In the Category list, click Security and Trust.

3. Under Security Level, clear the Automatically determine security level (recommended) check box, and then click the security level that you want to apply to the form template.

4. Click OK.

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

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Preview a form template with a domain security level

1. On the Tools menu, click Form Options.

2. In the Category list, click Security and Trust.

3. Under Security Level, clear the Automatically determine security level (recommended) check box, and then click Domain (the form can access content from the domain in which it is located).

4. In the Category list, click Preview.

5. In the Domain box, type the domain name where the form template will be published.

6. Click OK.

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

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Preview a form template with sample data

If you plan to test a form template repeatedly, you can save time by creating a form based on your form template that contains sample data and then configuring your form template to use this sample data each time that you preview your form template. By using a form with sample data, you will not have to enter the same data every time you preview the form template.

1. Click Preview on the Standard toolbar, or press CTRL+SHIFT+B.

2. Type your sample data in the appropriate controls.

3. On the File menu, click Save.

4. In the Save As dialog box, browse to the location where you want to save the form with the sample data, and then click Save.

5. On the Standard toolbar, click Close Preview.

6. On the Tools menu, click Form Options.

7. In the Category list, click Preview.

8. In the File location box under Sample data, click Browse.

9. In the Browse dialog box, browse to the location where you saved your form with the sample data, click the form, and then click Open.

10. Click OK.

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

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