Specify the Width of Answer Fields in the Interview

You can control the width of an answer field in an interview. This includes controlling column widths if the variable is repeated in a spreadsheet dialog.

To control the appearance of the variable's answer field

1. At the HotDocs template, edit a variable. (See Edit a Variable.)
2. At the Variable Editor, click the Advanced tab. The dialog box changes to show several advanced options, including answer field widths.
3. Click the Regular drop-down button and choose one of the following options:
   • Select Full to have HotDocs use the full width of the dialog pane to display the answer field.
   • Select Calculated to have HotDocs calculate an approximate width, based on the possible answer length.
   • Select Exactly and enter the specific number of units you want HotDocs to use for the answer field width.
4. Click the Spreadsheet drop-down button and choose one of the following options:
   • Select Calculated to have HotDocs calculate an approximate column width, based on the possible length of the answer and the actual width of the dialog pane.
   • Select At Least and then enter the minimum number of characters that should determine the column width.

These options are not available for Computation variables.

The Exactly field width measurement takes into account the width of the entire field, including field borders, group boxes (on True/False and Multiple Choice variables), and the calendar icon for Date variables. One unit is about equal to the width of the character 5.

For text fields, Calculated field widths are calculated by looking at the Maximum units setting. If this isn't set, HotDocs will assume 30 units. For date and number fields, HotDocs figures out the longest field required to accept the date or maximum number. For multiple choice and true/false answer fields (or group boxes), HotDocs uses the width required to show all the options. One unit is about equal to the width of the character 5.