Adobe Acrobat X: Filling in Online Forms

by Barb Binder 

In a perfect world, everyone would not only own, but also know how to use, Adobe Acrobat X Professional. And if they did, they would only post online forms with fields that were enabled for typing. Sadly, that's not currently our world. Or at least it's not mine. When I'm directed to an online form, I typically find that I'm expected to print, fill in the form by hand, and then fax it back.

As a long-time Adobe Acrobat instructor, I know that with a few short clicks, a form can be enabled for online data entry. But if a PDF isn't set up to add data, what can be done? Since I'm both printing-adverse (I love trees), and Acrobat-knowledgeable, here's what I do:  

1. Locate the form I need to fill out on a website.
   
    
2. Right-click it to open it in Acrobat X Professional or Acrobat X Standard. (If you are using Adobe Reader X to access the form, be sure to read the note below.)
   
    
3. Always hopeful, I will start by trying to type into a field. When I see the Hand tool show up, and not the insertion point cursor, I know I need to move on to step 4.
   
   
   
    
4. Choose View > Tools > Content > Add or Edit Text Box to open the Typewriter Toolbar.
   
   
   
    
5. Now I can select the Typewriter tool, pick my formatting and just click to start typing.
   
    
6. When I'm done, I can e-mail it back to the distributor and no trees were harmed in the process!

That's the good news. However, if you are using a copy of Adobe Reader X to access the form, you will not be able to choose View > Tools > Content > Add or Edit Text Box unless the person posting the form enabled the command when they saved the file.

If you are the one posting forms online, and don't have the time or inclination to learn how to create fillable form fields, please at least save a copy of the form using File > Save as > Reader Extended PDF > Enable Adding Text in Documents (that are not fillable forms). As long as you are saving a copy, it's OK to accept the alert box shown below.

 

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About the author: Barbara Binder is the president and founder of Rocky Mountain Training. Barbara has been a trainer for nearly two decades and has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.

Comments

[Colleen Valdez]

I have Adobe Acrobat Professional 8 that I access on a remote server. For years I have converted word documents (forms) into pdf using this method & created the fields, saved to computer & loaded on company website for use. Our company had Adobe Reader 8 and all was well. Recently (3 weeks ago) users began calling stating that the document would not allow filling in of forms. I had Adobe Reader 10 loaded to my computer as well as a few of the users. Those users now can open and use the forms on our website. Unfortunately today after the Reader was loaded to my computer, I created a new form in Adobe Acrobat Professional 8, made it fillable, enabled usage rights so users can save the data in the form & now neither myself nor the users who were upgraded to Adobe Reader X can fill the form in - it gives a message across the top that the form is in PDF/A mode & doesn't allow filling in of the form. The form was not loaded to the website but sent for testing via email. Any help will be greatly appreciated.