Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Getting User Input in a Dialog Box.
If you need to get input from a user under control of a macro, one method you can use is to employ the InputBox function. This function displays a dialog box and allows the user to type a response. The result is a string, returned to your macro, which you can then process and use.
The syntax for the InputBox function is as follows:
sMyString = InputBox(sPrompt, sTitle, sDefault)
There are three parameters you can use with InputBox, although only the first one is absolutely required. In this syntax, sPrompt is the text you want displayed as the user prompt, sTitle is the text to display in the title bar of the dialog box, and sDefault is the default text string offered to the user in the dialog box. The user can edit or accept the default string, as desired.
As an example, the following code lines can be used to display a dialog box and ask the user for his or her name:
sPrompt = "Please check your name and make any corrections" sTitle = "Name Entry" sDefault = "John Doe" sUserName = InputBox(sPrompt, sTitle, sDefault)
Note:
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1356) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Getting User Input in a Dialog Box.
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2018-01-05 05:26:18
Is there any way in which the selections in the above example could be activated by clicking with a mouse?
2017-12-06 07:12:24
Stan Gooch
I have used this routine very successfully in Word 2016 - with one exception.
The Input panel is titled "Alert" ... I cannot see how to change this to the title that
I want to use.
Help!
2017-02-20 09:24:12
Just a passing note: I like to use Named arguments to help me remember in these cases what the arguments are
For the above example this would be, for the first three
(Prompt:= sPrompt, Title:= sTitle, Default:= sDefault)
( The full list is given here: msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/gg251811.aspx )
A characteristic of this is that for named arguments they may be in any order, such that, for example with the above example , if the Title was to be omitted, then
_ for named arguments we could use this syntax:
(Prompt:= sPrompt, Default:= sDefault) or (Default:= sDefault, Prompt:= sPrompt)
but
_ for unnamed arguments the order must be maintained, with place holders included as necessary for any missing arguments in between.
So for this example it would be
(sPrompt, , sDefault)
( Missing arguments must be omitted at the end - This , ) would cause an error as , , is needed, I think, to be recognised as a place holder.
With no following , the arguments are taken as complete, ( assuming any missing are optional ) )
2017-01-26 10:06:48
fj1
Is there a function to input single character?
I need this because after input one character and the macro continue to run.
As that (Char function) used in WordPerfect.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: 
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