>>>you run the risk that they'll pull some stupid user trick. The best you can hope to do is catch them at it.<<
>
>Yeah, this programming stuff would be easy if we didn't have to deal with those darned users! :-) I'd never thought about giving them a copy though. That would probably work. My client is quite willing to let the user (her employees) mess things up. "If they are dumb enough to do that..." and that is one solution, but not the one I usually want to rely on.



Yeah, but think about it. For years, many of us have shipped default reports in memo fields and let the users customize but only on copies. We keep the default just for those days when we get that "OH MY GOD I'VE RUINED IT!" phone call. Why should Word documents be any different?

Having them work on copies is the kinder and gentler interface alternative. They don't have to KNOW it's a copy, of course. But keep the original so you can cover their butts and look like a hero. ;-)

Dan