To create the 'fancy' Intake Form, we start simple and then build on that. The first thing we are going to do is name some cells to match the names of the variables that reside in your Word documents as closely as possible.

1.Create a rough design of how you want the worksheet to look/operate. For now, each row should reflect one item of data. Place a one or two word term that describes the first item of data that you want to collect in Column A, Row 1.  This should, at least for the time being, be the variable name. So, in A1 you might type "ClientName".

Note:  If you have already adopted a set of variable in Pathagoras for Word, then the names in Column A should be identical to those used in your documents, but without the brackets. The text you ultimately use in Column A can be quite descriptive. However, for reasons discussed below, for this initial markup (which involves using Excel's automated cell naming features), the text you type in this column should be the same as you want the actual variable to be. You will see why in the next section.

2.Repeat for Row 2 of Column A. Perhaps "ClientAddress" would reside in this line.

3.Repeat down the rows in Column A for each desired value.

4.After you have finished the typing your variables, it is time to 'name' the cells immediately to the right of the list. This is discussed in the next section.

Before typing any variables into cells, read the next section called "Create a Form from a Mask." You may be able to save yourself a lot of typing (and prevent typographical errors) by using an already existing Mask.