If you have do not have permissions to edit the form, you will not find where to
do so. Sometimes a form may be customized to show certain fields. Other times,
the field itself may be configured to not show on the New form, but to show
elsewhere. With proper permissions, however, you would be able to customize the
form to expose the field. This may require Designer or InfoPath depending, but
if you don't know how or don't have the permissions, I would elevate the issue
to the appropriate people in your organization. Otherwise, there are plenty of
books and blog posts that address customizing forms.

I have permissions, and I did this once before through the Sharepoint screens
(not designer). I'm starting to remember something. The content type I want to
modify had to be enable or unhidden someplace, then I could add/delete columns
there. But, now I can't remember where to unhide this content type. The only
one I see is "service requests", but that relates to the edit form. I'm looking
for "new item".

why don't you set the default value of the Status field to In Progress? so the
Status is set to 'In Progress' when the New Request form is created without any
code needed.

I really want to enable "status" on the new request form with a default of "not
started".

Now, I remember the last time I modified this form, I had to enable a content
type or something before I could get to the page where I could enable the field.
It's a page with check boxes next to each field.

But, I can't remember how to get there again.

Someone please put me on the right track. This is driving me crazy.

At the list URL, bring up Settings->List Settings. Under General Settings click
on Advanced Settings. Click on Allow Management of Content Types (Yes). OK.
Under Content Types, click on Item. You can then click on any column you want,
and set the column to optional, required, or hidden. If you set the column to
hidden, it will stay hidden even if you turn off Allow Management of Content
Types. You can also add a column to the content type from this point.

That's what I thought I needed to do, but, "Allow Management of Content Types"
is already set to Yes, and the only thing under Content Types is "Service
Requests". There's no "Item" content type.

If I follow the Service Requests content type, at the top of the page, it says
the parent is "Item", but if I go there, all I see is a Title column, so that's
not right.

Is there a way to restore the "item" content type in SP2007? I don't know why
it's missing. If I reinstall the Microsoft Help Desk, would that overwrite any
data?

The Item content type is one of the top level content types in SharePoint
and should not be altered, messed with, or otherwise modified. It has one
column, the Title. Most other SharePoint Content types inherit from the Item
content type. When working in lists and libraries you can create new Content
Types, (preferably at the Site Collection level) that contain the columns
you need and then add those content types to your list or library. To modify
the New or Edit forms, you can use SharePoint Designer to create a new form
that exposes the fields you want and assign that as the new, New or Edit
form for that list or library.

Can it even *be* deleted without getting rid of all its inherited types
first?

I was going to say that I hadn't ever heard of anyone even messing up the Item
Content Type. I suppose it is possible but you would have to do it with so much
purpose....you would know if you messed that one up. First, you'd have to have
an intimate knowledge of content types to begin with! Then, if armed with that
knowledge, I would think any sane developer/admin/power-user would shy away as
much as possible.

Maybe I wasn't clear. The issue here is that I'm trying to enable the Status
field on the New Request form. Currently, it only shows up when you edit an
existing Help Desk request.

From my Service Requests list, if I go to Settings > List Settings, there is
only one content type displayed. It is called Service Request, and Status is
already there.

When I open the Service Request content type, I see at the top of the page that
the parent is "Item" and there is only one column called Title. I am not
messing with this. Another group member suggested that I should see an Item
content type at the same level as Service Requests.

Now, I had modified the New Request form in the past through Sharepoint (not
designer), but can't find my way there again. I remember a page with a list of
columns and checkboxes to enable or disable them. Where is that page?

If you've enabled Manage Content Types (in Advanced Settings on the List),
then you can go back to the List Settings page and click the content type to
pull up a list of all columns in that content type. At that point you can
click a column name and adjust whether it is Requred, Optional, or Hidden.
However, this interface does not allow you to specify display per form type;
you might be able to force its appearance with Required, but I'm not sure.

I set Status to required, but that didn't make it appear on newform.aspx

If you have modified these forms using SharePoint Designer then I would suggest
that you may need to crack that back open and check whether you have been using
a different ASPX form for your NewForm.aspx.

However, it is possible that there is some further modification of these forms
by Microsoft since this is a Fab 40, correct? Perhaps, then, you would want to
create your own NewForm.aspx using Designer...

I'm sorry if I am confusing the issue more. I don't know this template very
well. It's a shot in the dark but you could also check for any JavaScript on the
page that may be obscuring this column on your form.

I have never modified the New Request form using Designer. I was able to modify
the form from Sharepoint in the past. Now I can't and don't know why. I might
just have to try designer. Actually, I looked at this once before, but when I
opened NewForm.aspx, it looked just like EditForm.aspx. I would have expected
NewForm.aspx to have less fields. I looked at the source code for things like
"visibility" or "hidden", but didn't see anything that would have hidden all the
fields that don't appear when I open New Request in Sharepoint.

I owe an apology to everyone who has replied to this thread. I just figured out
how I was able to modify the New Request Form fields. I knew I didn't do it
with Designer, but my faulty memory though I did it through a content type in
SharePoint.

The way I did it was by using Ishai Sagi's SharePoint Tips Utility Pack. Great
little tool.

Again, sorry for taking everyone down the wrong road.