A D O B E A C R O B A T Introduction Beginning The Process The Form

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A d o b e C r e a t i n g A c r o b a t F o r m s 1 of 6 Created: 11/11/2009 Introduction Creating a form through Adobe Acrobat takes a normal paper form and makes it electronic. The form works the same ways as a paper form but unlike a paper form you can quickly email the form to recipients. Recipients are also able to quickly save the form themselves and either print it off and hand it back to the sender or email it to them as well. With the digital world continually advancing digital forms are a quick and easy way to jump on the bandwagon. Beginning the Process Adobe by default will not let you edit or create a form unless you tell it to do so. The following steps show you how to begin creating a form: 1. Start by launching Adobe Acrobat Pro. You need the pro version to create forms. 2. Find the Forms menu and click on it. 3. Click the Start Form Wizard... button to begin creating a form. 4. You will be presented with an important window asking how you want to create your form. 5. Leave the radio button filled for the option you want and click the Next > button. Generally it is easier to start with an already created form and modify it. 6. Since the top option, working on an existing PDF, is the most common this help document will cover that process. 7. Another window will appear with two options. Unless you have a PDF already open that you want to work on the top option, Use the current document, will be grayed out. By selecting the top option you will open up the currently opened PDF so you can work on it. Otherwise you need to choose the second option and direct Adobe Acrobat to where the file is stored. 8. Choose the option that best suits you and click the Next > button. 9. Adobe Acrobat works its magic and then takes the PDF you gave it and brings it into the form editing area. By default you will notice that it already tries to add fields for you. You can keep them if you like or just select them all and delete them to start from scratch. The Form Editing View A. The Tool Area: This area allows you to use the pointer tool to select or move around fields. As well as the Add New Field drop-down button to add additional fields to your form. The Preview button is also quite useful so you can test your form as you work on it. B. The Fields Area: This area displays all the fields listed in your form. It is designed to be a quick and easy way to quickly select a field without having to go through and look at each field in your form. In structional Support Studio A d o b e C r e a t i n g A c r o b a t F o r m s 2 of 6 Created: 11/11/2009 C. The Form: This area shows what the form will look like with the fields on it. D. The Finish Area: The finish area is useful if you want to save the form or move out of the form editing view by clicking on the Close Form Editing button. You can also begin distributing it by clicking on the Distribute Form button. Work with Form Fields Adding a Field to Your Form Adding a form to your report works almost like a text box. You need to click on the field you want to add and then drag it out onto your form. The following steps show you how to add a field: 1. Click the Add New Field drop-down button. 2. Choose from the different fields available: i. Text Field: A basic text field that users can enter data into. ii. Check Box: Allows you to enter a check box field. Good for when you want users to select from multiple options and they can choose more than one. iii. Radio Button: Allows you enter a radio button. Good for when you have different options you want users to choose from and only want them to choose one. In structional Support Studio A d o b e C r e a t i n g A c r o b a t F o r m s 3 of 6 Created: 11/11/2009 iv. 3. 4. 5. 6. List Box: Works like the radio button except all the options are contained in a list that you can scroll through instead of each of the different options attached to radio buttons. v. Combo Box: Is similar to the List Box except that instead of scrolling through a list you are presented options in a drop-down menu. vi. Button: This field allows you to create a button that can perform specific actions. This is a rather complicated field and should only be used if you have some familiarity with programming or using buttons. vii. Digital Signature: An advanced field that allows users to add a digital signature to their form. viii. Barcode: An advanced field that allows you to add a barcode to your document that can read all the information in it. Click the field you want. You will notice a blue square appear as your cursor. This is the field and you need to place it in your form. Move the blue square to the approximate place you want to place it and then click once with the left mouse button to place the field on your form. When you place the field a yellow window will appear asking you to give the field a name. Type the field name in the text box provided and then click outside of the yellow box. The name will be saved and your field will have been added to the form. Changing the Field Size When you add a field you to your form you are not stuck to a default size. To change a field size follow these steps: 1. Start by clicking on the field whose size you want to change. You can either click on the field in the Fields area or the actual field on the form. 2. Blue squares will surround the field. 3. Hover over one of the squares and your mouse pointer will change into a double-headed arrow. 4. Click and drag out the square until you are satisfied with the size of the new field. 5. Release the left-mouse button to save your resize. Moving a Field The benefit of creating forms using Adobe Acrobat Pro is that all the fields in your form can easily be moved around. To move a field follow these steps: 1. Select the field you want to move. You can either select the field by clicking on its name in the Fields area or by actually clicking on the field in the form. 2. Once selected move your mouse over the field on the form until it turns from white to black. This indicates that you can move your field. 3. While holding down the left-mouse button drag the field to where you want it to go. 4. Release the mouse button when the field has been moved to the spot you want it. In structional Support Studio A d o b e A c r o b a t C r e a t i n g F o r m s 4 of 6 Created: 11/11/2009 Renaming a Field If you realize you want to rename a field after it has been added Adobe Acrobat lets you do that as well. To rename a field follow these steps: 1. Start by double-clicking the field name in the Fields area. 2. The field name will turn into a text box. 3. Type the new name for the field. 4. When you are done changing the field’s name click away from it to save the changes. Editing Field Properties Adobe Acrobat also allows you to edit a field properties so it does things in a certain way or displays information in a certain way as well. The edit field properties dialogue box is filled with a lot of information. This section will break down each tab and some functions you can perform in each. The General Tab The general tab provides some general options for changing a field properties. The primary reason you will enter the general tab is if you want to change its name or choose whether it is visible in your form or not. From this menu you are also able to change the orientation of the field as well as if it is a field users of the form are required to enter data into (Read Only checkbox). The Appearance Tab As the name of the tab suggests, this tab allows you to change the appearance of the field in the form. More specifically whether there will be a border around the field and if the field has a fill colour or not. You are also able to change the default text size for the field as well as the standard font and colour that will display in the field as well. The Options Tab This tab allows you to change additional options with the particular field. For example in the case of a radio or checkbox field you can change the appearance of the symbol that appears when those fields are selected and whether they are filled in by default. In the case of a text field this area allows you to change things such as how the text is aligned in the field and other options such as if the field can have multiple lines and if it is scrollable. The Actions Tab This tab is rather complicated and should be avoided if you are not familiar with writing actions. What this tab allows you to do is tell Adobe Acrobat to do something when you have clicked on that field, hovered over it etc. In structional Support Studio A d o b e C r e a t i n g A c r o b a t F o r m s 5 of 6 Created: 11/11/2009 Format Tab – Text Field This tab allows you to format how the text will appear in the paragraph. For example, if you had a earnings field someone filled out and always wanted to ensure that the number given would have a dollar sign on it you could set the field so that Adobe automatically, once the data is entered, adds a dollar sign. From the top drop-down menu you are able to choose the type of formatting that will be applied to the particular field you have selected. Once you have selected the particular formatting you want you are then given options to further edit how the field will appear. Validate Tab – Text Field This is a more advanced field that allows you to make sure that someone entered the correct text into a particular field. Due to its complexity this help document will not cover any more on this field. But if you are interested in having fields that make sure users enter the right data have a look at this tab. Calculate Tab – Text Field This is a really useful tab that allows you to calculate values entered into the field. You are given a basic radio button that if selected will allow you to add/multiply/subtract/etc. certain fields and the value will display in the field you have selected. This can be really useful for counting particular things on a form or adding up hours that a person has worked. You are also given two more advanced radio buttons that involve the use of JavaScript and should only be used by really advanced users. Working on an Existing Form Sometimes you will be working on your form and want to come back to it later. Many people think they may have start their form over and believe that forms have to be created in one go. However, Adobe Acrobat lets you take an existing form and continue working on it. The following steps to do this are as follows: 1. Open up the form you were previously working on in Adobe Acrobat Pro. 2. Click on the Forms menu. 3. Instead of clicking on the Start Form Wizard... button click on the Add or Edit Fields... button. 4. This will allow you to continue working on the form you were previously creating. An Extremely Important Tip In structional Support Studio A d o b e C r e a t i n g A c r o b a t F o r m s 6 of 6 Created: 11/11/2009 This is perhaps the most important part of the help document as if you don’t click this button your form will be unreadable to the majority of users. The form you have created right now only works with the Adobe Acrobat Pro version not the free Reader version which the majority of people only have. This means you have to use a tool in Adobe Acrobat Pro so that you make sure that it will work with Adobe Reader. To allow your form to work in Adobe Reader follow these steps: 1. Make sure you have the form open that you want to be able to distribute to Adobe Reader users. 2. Click on the Advanced menu. 3. Click on the Extend Features in Adobe Reader... button. 4. A window will appear telling you everything you can do by clicking this button. 5. Click the Save Now button. 6. You will be asked where you want to save your document. Make sure you give it a name that clearly indicates that is the form that Adobe Reader users can use. In structional Support Studio