What's best way to have the telephone and social security formatting appear in BOTH an empty (blank) field and in a filled in (completed) field?

I want the user to see the formatting before he/she enters data and after the data is entered.

BarryZ

Create a Phone_Number field (text).

Create a Phone_Format calculation(text) field which = if(IsEmpty(Phone_Number),"xxx xxxx xxxx",""). Use the pattern of x's for your desired format.

On the layout, uncheck the "allow entry into field" option for the Phone_Format field. Then place the Phone_Format field on top of the Phone_Number field.

When you click on the formatting, the Phone_Number field will open to allow entry, and the string of x's will disappear.

You might also want to consider a validation based on content or length of the Phone_Number field to make sure that the user has actually entered the required format.

If you want the user to see the formatting after they have entered the data, why not just put an example on the layout above/below the field?

I thought there might be a way to do this without overlaying objects.