[jdbeers]

I want to put together a form that creates a Word document report. The report needs to look like a simple technical report (title page, project name, date, authors, TOC, Intro, sections and subsections, appendix, photos as figures) in Word. How do I do this? 

 

Years ago I used Microsoft Access to create a pdf report from a form but it was messy and difficult. I was looking at Wufoo but need to look a little closer and I'm not sure that would do it either.

 

I am by no means a computer program expert, but am instead an idea guy...and this is my idea. So if there's a relatively simple way to make such a form, please let me know.

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I know of at least 2 ways you could do this. You need to determine, if setup needs to be easy or the data entry needs to be easy. The reason is one method (LaTeX) is fairly easy to setup, and the data entry will take more effort from your end. The other method (Access/SQL) takes some level of expertise to get setup, but the data entry should be real easy. It depends on how many such reports needs to be generated, and how many users are going to be using it.

 

LaTeX is used by researchers to create technical papers and reports based on a given template. You can create templates, and it does a fairly good job of adhering to that template. However you will need to learn how to use syntax to enter data into it. (It's almost like HTML syntax)

 

Access and SQL (or some form of database report generation is tasking initially, but later you can just pull reports from the data you enter, without much complexity.

[amarkkassery]

I know of at least 2 ways you could do this. You need to determine, if setup needs to be easy or the data entry needs to be easy. The reason is one method (LaTeX) is fairly easy to setup, and the data entry will take more effort from your end. The other method (Access/SQL) takes some level of expertise to get setup, but the data entry should be real easy. It depends on how many such reports needs to be generated, and how many users are going to be using it.

 

LaTeX is used by researchers to create technical papers and reports based on a given template. You can create templates, and it does a fairly good job of adhering to that template. However you will need to learn how to use syntax to enter data into it. (It's almost like HTML syntax)

 

Access and SQL (or some form of database report generation is tasking initially, but later you can just pull reports from the data you enter, without much complexity.