Hi Brad

The check boxes and other controls in the Control Toolbox toolbar are
ActiveX objects. Word considers ActiveX controls to be in the same class as
macros (that is, as security threats). If you have your macro security level
set to High, both macros and ActiveX controls are unconditionally disabled,
and that's what causes the document to open in Design Mode.

You can set your security level to Medium (Tools > Macros > Security) and,
each time you open the document, click the Enable button in the warning box.
Setting the level to Low is "not recommended" for obvious reasons. Every
person to whom you send the document will also have to set their security
level to Medium and click Enable -- and unless they know what I've just told
you, you're going to have to tell them.

There are two alternatives, neither of them very appealing.

One is to use check boxes from the Forms toolbar, but that requires you to
protect the document for forms (Tools > Protect Document) -- and that means
nothing outside the check boxes can be edited, plus a number of other
features don't work.

The other is to use the combination of AutoText, macros, and MacroButton
fields used in the Fax templates that come with Word. Not only do these have
the same drawback of not operating if the security level is High, but they
also mean you have to send the template along with (or instead of) the
document because AutoText can't be stored in a document.

Answered in new users. Please do not multipost.

In the Microsoft Word newsgroups it is considered bad form to post separate
messages to multiple newsgroups. If you need to post in more than one forum
(unusual) please post a single message with both forums in the header of
that single message. That way (1) your question and the various answers stay
together, (2) less space is used on the news servers, (3) less bandwidth is
used on the Internet, (4) you only have to check one forum for answers that
appear in both forums, and (5) you won't unnecessarily annoy the people you
are asking for help. This isn't meant to criticize you. We were all
beginners once and the only way to learn is to try.  (BTW, a number of the
Microsoft newsgroups don't want posting in more than one newsgroup, period.
Check the FAQ.)
Take a look on the MVP FAQ website under "getting help" for more reasons ase
well as other suggestions for getting answers more easily and quickly. <URL:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FindHelp/Posting.htm>