You receive a “Run-time error '4609': "String too long" error message when you assign a value to a FormField object in Word

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This article was previously published under Q163192

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SYMPTOMS

When you try to assign the value of a variable containing more than 255 characters to a FormField object, you receive the following error message:

Run-time error '4609': "String too long"

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Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure. However, they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements.

The following example Visual Basic for Applications code sets text that is greater than 255 characters in length to the form field named Text1:

   Sub WorkAround255Limit()
      ' Set Text1 form field to a unique string.
      ActiveDocument.FormFields("text1").Result = "****"
      If ActiveDocument.ProtectionType <> wdNoProtection Then
          ActiveDocument.Unprotect
      End If
      Selection.GoTo What:=wdGoToBookmark, Name:="Text1"
      Selection.Collapse
      Selection.MoveRight wdCharacter, 1
      Selection.TypeText (String(256, "W"))
      Selection.GoTo what:=wdGoToBookmark, Name:="Text1"
      ' Remove unique characters from Text1 form field.
      With Selection.Find
         .Execute findtext:="*", replacewith:="", replace:=wdReplaceAll
      End With
      ActiveDocument.Protect Password:="", NoReset:=True, Type:= _
         wdAllowOnlyFormFields
   End Sub

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REFERENCES

For additional informationabout how to obtain help with Visual Basic, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

163435 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/163435/EN-US/ ) VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications

For additional information, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

305326 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305326/ ) OFFXP: Programming resources for Visual Basic for Applications

226118 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/226118/ ) OFF2000: Programming resources for Visual Basic for Applications

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