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PDF Forms: Part 3

by Sally Cox  

During the first article in this series, I covered the process of creating a PDF. In the second article you learned how to add text fields to a postcard PDF. (You can download the PDF from that article if you want to follow along.)

This time I'd like to show you how to add a drop-down menu to the PDF form.

Below is an image of the postcard you learned to modify last time. There are three text fields and I've named them: "Date," "Name," and "City." 

 

When the user submits the form, the data you get back is "Name=Value." If you leave fields unnamed and the user enters "Reno" as their city, you will receive "Text Field 3=Reno." It would make sense to receive "City=Reno." So please, name those text fields!

Adding a Dropdown Menu

I need a drop-down menu for the user to pick their state. In this example, I will just include a few states, but you will get the idea.

Note: Because I already turned the PDF into a form and I am just editing it, I chose Prepare Form and was taken directly to the form tools.

I clicked the Dropdown List tool from the Forms toolbar (6th from the left--blue when it's selected).

 

Click and drag to positon the drop-down object. 

Editing the Properties

Double-click or right-click the object to edit its Properties.

On the General tab, name the drop-down list and add a Tooltip.

 

 

 

Tooltips are helpful in two key scenarios: 

1. If the user is disabled and is using a screen reader to read the content. The screen reader cannot read images but the tooltip will be read, so the user can know what content is intended there. You want your content to be accessible to everyone, don't you?
2. If images are disabled by the user (some people do it for speed, although images are important to me!)

From the Appearance tab, choose a Fill and Stroke. I reduced the text size a bit, too (the default is 12, which is gigantic). You can preview the form and make changes as needed.

 

I usually skip the Position tab, but you can use this section to accurately pinpoint the drop-down's location on the page.

I added my responses via the the Options tab. (I tend to make Item and Export Value the same but you can name the Item differently if you wish.)

Tip: I typically add a final response called "Select One." It appears at the bottom of the list and I want it to be the default, so I move it up the list by selecting it and tapping the "Up" button.

 

The response that is highlighted will be the default--in the example above, the user will see Select One as the default.

Here is the Final drop-down List

Here is the postcard with the drop-down list added.

 

Next time: Submit buttons.

PDF Forms Part 2: Text Fields

by Sally Cox  

In the first article in this series, we discovered all the ways to create PDFs. Now that I have a PDF that I want to convert to a form, I am ready to add text fields. 

As you'll recall, I created a postcard-sized PDF in Adobe Illustrator that I want to use for my form. I added shaded boxes where I want the text fields to be. 

I want to emphasize you can do what I am about to show you with a simpler form--for example, one you created in Word with just text and no images. I will show you how to do both in this series.

 

Here is my PDF opened in Adobe Acrobat. (If you'd like to download the PDF shown below, click here. Be sure to save the PDF to your computer and then open it.)

Notice the vertical list of categories on the right side of Acrobat.

 

 

I chose Prepare Form (which took me to a screen where I could select the PDF to convert to a form). I usually have the PDF I want to convert open when I do this step, but you can always browse and find the document if necessary.

Adding Form Fields

Acrobat can detect fields for you, specifically in Word documents. It does an excellent job of detecting where the fields should go. However, I create a lot of documents in Illustrator or other applications that are design-heavy. Acrobat does not do a good job with automatically detecting fields in those types of documents. In that case, I tap Change hyperlink and turn off Form field auto detection. Then I create the fields myself.

At the top of the document, there are Form Fields and other Form tools.

 

 

I chose the Add a Text Field tool, clicked and dragged across where the Date field is on my form. Because I have a shaded box in place, I chose to make the field transparent.

 

Once I've added the field, I name it, and tap Properties. Here's where I can change settings for the text field.

 

Note: Always name your fields. When someone submits the form data to you by tapping the Submit button, the info returned is "Name=Value." If you don't name your fields, you'll receive "Text Field 12=Yes" and you won't know what the question was. Name your fields.

Text Field Properties - General allows you to name the field, add a tool tip (always a good idea, and for accessibility), and show other options for visibility.

Text Field Properties - Appearance allows you to add or remove Fill and Stroke to the field. Here, I have chosen to remove both and keep it transparent. I also can choose Font, Size and Color for the text the user will enter.

Text Field Properties - Position allows you to exactly position the field. I skipped over that and went to Text Field Properties - Options. Here, I set the alignment, any default text I want to appear in the field and set options for the text. One idea is to check multi-line if your question might involve a lengthy answer. Or you can limit the number of characters, such as an account number.

Text Field Properties - Format is where you can choose things like zip code, Social Security number or in this case, date. For this example, I'm skipping over Text Field Properties - Actions, Text Field Properties - Validate and Text Field Properties - Calculate.

Here is what the text field looks like when I am in edit mode. If I preview it, I will be able to see the field is transparent.

And here is the postcard with the text field in place. I have previewed it and entered type to see what it looks like. If the text seems too big, I can edit the Appearance tab in the Text Field Properties.

Next time: Drop-down menus and adding a Submit button.

Creating PDF Forms

by Sally Cox  

PDFs are everywhere, and forms are still one of the most popular PDF types. Whether you are creating a form from scratch or updating an existing one, I bet I can show you a few things you didn't know about PDF forms.

This is the first in a series of articles that I'm planning on building and getting creative with PDF forms. Let's get started with the PDF form creation process.

Creating a New PDF Form

Regardless of which application you use to create the initial document, you can make it into a form in Adobe Acrobat. Keep in mind that if you can print a document, you can usually create a PDF. 

I use Adobe Illustrator to create my documents and then I save them as PDFs. When it comes to form fields, I add them in Adobe Acrobat (see my example below). I use Microsoft Word to create the document, and Acrobat can detect and add form fields for me (see example below for this one, too). 

We will review both those methods, but let's start with using Word to create the document.

 

   

These are examples I will use throughout this article series: at the top, I simply typed my text in a Word document and exported it to PDF. Above, I took the same information and created a postcard with colored boxes where I want the text fields to go. I can add and customize form fields in Acrobat.

Setting up a form in Microsoft Word

To create a PDF with Word, you either print to PDF or import a Word document into Acrobat, (which automatically creates a PDF).

In the example below, I set up a simple Word document.

To print to a PDF, choose File > Print. Then choose Save as PDF from the menu in the lower left of the dialog box. 

 

Use the Print menu to save as PDF from Word. (This is a Mac screen shot; if you are on Windows, it may look different.)

Create the PDF in Acrobat

Create the Word document and save it. Open Acrobat.

From within Acrobat, choose File > Create > PDF from File. This will allow you to browse and find the document you wish to convert to PDF. You can convert Microsoft Office documents and most image formats using this method.

 

Adobe Illustrator to PDF 

I happen to be a heavy Illustrator user so I will show you an example of how that same form information could be used to create a more visually appealing form.

This is the Illustrator document I created using the same form questions.

In a future article, you will learn how to create text form fields in Adobe Acrobat and drop-down menus. 

To save an Illustrator document as a PDF, choose File > Save As > Adobe PDF (pdf).

Other Ways to Create a PDF

Here are some other ways you can create a PDF (not covered in this article):

1. Print to PDF from any application that prints by choosing Adobe PDF as your printer
2. Convert HTML pages to PDF
3. Merge files together into one PDF
4. Go from your camera directly to PDF
5. Publish your SWF videos in a PDF directly from Adobe Captivate
6. There are online services that will convert your documents to PDF for you

Next time: Turning the PDF into a form, adding form fields and learning to love the Button Tool!

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More information.

Adobe Acrobat X: Adding Description Fields to Document Properties

by Barb Binder  

It's easy to ignore the Description tab of the Document Properties dialog box in Adobe Acrobat. You may never even think about it as you create, enhance and review your PDFs. But if you start amassing a large collection of PDFs, ignoring the Description tab would be a mistake. The Description fields are easily searched (both locally and online) and taking a few minutes to fill them out as you go will save you the headache of realizing a few years down the road that you should have been doing it all along.  

 

My personal rule is to make sure I get those fields filled out when I make a PDF. I set the fields up in advance for files created in InDesign, FrameMaker and Word so that they are saved with the source file and simply appear each time I create a PDF.

The general steps are the same for all three applications (and many others that I won't address here). Basically, it's:

1. Open up a native file in your source application.
2. Figure out where to enter the description fields.
3. Create the PDF.
4. Open the PDF in Acrobat or Reader.
5. Choose File > Properties > Description to view the fields.

For the specifics on setting this up in InDesign, FrameMaker and Word, read on.

Adobe InDesign

1. Open any InDesign document.
2. Choose File > File Info > Description (Mac & Win), fill out the description fields and click OK. 
3. Choose File > Export to create the PDF document.
4. Open Acrobat or Reader.
5. Choose File > Properties > Description to see the fields.

To see any additional fields, click the Additional Metadatabutton.        

Adobe FrameMaker

1. Open any FrameMaker document.
2. Choose File > File Info, fill out the description fields and then click OK.
3. Choose File > Save as PDF to create the PDF document.
4. Open Acrobat or Reader.
5. Choose File > Properties > Description to see the fields.

Microsoft Word

1. Open any Word document.
2. Choose File > Properties (Mac) or File > Prepare > Properties (Windows) and fill out the description fields.

On Word for Windows, the fields appear at the top of the document. If you want to see the dialog box, you have to click Document Properties, and navigate to the Summary tab. On a Mac, you are taken right to the dialog box.


3. Choose File > Save as PDF (Mac) or PDFMaker(Win) to create the PDF document.
4. Open Acrobat or Reader.
5. Choose File > Properties > Description to see the fields. 

I know and use all of the steps as described above. Even so, yesterday I found myself with 50+ PDFs that I had just created. I was ready to send them off to the client and realized that I forgot to enter the description fields... on all of them! If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, check out next week's article: Adobe Acrobat X: Adding Description Fields to Multiple PDFs.

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Need to learn Acrobat? Barb's next Acrobat class is April 25. Come learn the basics in just two days.

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.

Editing with Acrobat: Get the Comment Pane's Numbers to Match Acrobat's Page Numbers

by Jennie Ruby

This week a past student of my Editing with Acrobat class contacted me with this problem: The page numbers used in the Comments pane at the bottom of her screen did not match the page numbers displayed in the page number field at the top of the screen. Endless confusion resulted when she tried to discuss editorial changes with authors--Is that on page 2? or page 21?

Page Navigation toolbar:

Comments Pane:

Where did these different numbers come from? The number 21 corresponds with the actual printed number on that page as it will appear in the printed publication. Acrobat picked this number up from the desktop publishing software used to create the document. It is called the "logical" page number. The number 2 corresponds with the second page in the Acrobat PDF. I will be calling this number the "Acrobat" page number.

One quick fix to make these two numbers match is to set Acrobat to use the Acrobat page numbers (starting with 1 as the first page of the PDF) instead of the "logical" numbers. To do this, choose Edit > Preferences. In the Preferences dialog box, select the Page Display category, deselect Use logical page numbers and click OK. 

Now, within your screen, the numbers are consistent. But how do you discuss your comments with an author who is looking at a printout that has the "logical" page numbers on it? You may need to create a summary of the comments using the logical page numbers.

To create a summary numbered to match the author's printout, return to the Preferences dialog box (Edit > Preferences > Page Display) and select Use logical page numbers. Then choose Comments > Summarize Comments.

Choose a layout and formatting for your summary, then click Create PDF Comment Summary. You will get a new PDF showing the original text and the comments, and any page numbers referred to in the comments will match the "logical" printed page numbers. 

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Need help with Acrobat's many editing tools? Or do you need a reliable way to get feedback from several people on a document or PowerPoint deck? My Editing with Acrobat class is a great place to start.

Are you an eLearning developer who has been tasked with creating an effective voiceover script? If so, consider attending Jennie's Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts class. Jennie also teaches the Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts and the Complete Review of Grammar class.  

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 About the Author:  Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. She is a publishing professional with more than 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.

Acrobat X: Help... Anywhere!

by David R. Mankin 

 

Help... it's one of the first things I teach in any Acrobat class. The Acrobat Help System is available with a quick press of the F1 key, and it's been that way for as long as I can remember (regardless of the version of Acrobat).

What varies from version to version is the type of Help file that ships with Acrobat, and therefore the program in which Help opens. Later versions of Help were HTML based documents, and opened in your default browser. In Acrobat 9, pressing F1 opened your browser and presented an HTML help file that was on your hard drive.

I was a little surprised to see what happened when I pressed F1 in the brand-new Acrobat X. My browser opened and the Help file was offered for my use, but I quickly noticed that the browser's address bar indicated that this was not a local file on my hard drive, but an HTML file located on Adobe's server. Is this a problem? No... unless you're at 36,000 feet over the Rocky Mountains in a 747, or inside the walls of a highly secure workspace. 

I found a neat way to ensure that Acrobat's Help file is at your fingertips at all time. From a computer with Acrobat X installed (and internet access), press F1 from within Acrobat to open the online Help file in your web browser. In the upper right of your browser window, look for a link that reads View Help PDF (23 MB) and click it.

This will load a PDF version of the Help file into your browser window, or you can right-click the link and opt to save the PDF to your computer. I have the PDF Help file saved to my desktop so it's available and easy to find--even at 36,000 feet!

Since Acrobat X's help file is online, you only need a url to see it: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/acrobat/pro/using/index.html.

 

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About the author: David R. Mankin is a Certified Technical Trainer, desktop publisher, computer graphic artist, and Web page developer. And if that wasn't enough, of course David is an Adobe-certified expert in Adobe Acrobat.

Acrobat: CreatePDF Service in the Cloud

by David R. Mankin 

 

There are many ways to create PDFs. If you have Acrobat Professional running on your machine, you have probably discovered that Acrobat's installation process installed a print driver for you. It's called Adobe PDF and can be used to create a PDF file from any application that has print capabilities. Some of you may even use this feature exclusively.

Now suppose you are away from your computer and you find yourself at someone else's machine, or you have a PC that does not have Acrobat Professional installed. You need to produce a PDF on the spot, but without your Adobe PDF print driver at hand, you're stuck... or are you?

Adobe has added another terrific service to their cloud. It's called CreatePDF and it offers some pretty amazing features. This is not Adobe's first online-PDF creation utility, but it certainly is the most flexible and capable. CreatePDF will allow you to convert many file types to PDF.

As useful as this is, it's just the tip of the iceberg. You can convert multiple documents into a single PDF file, and if you're using Windows, you can download and install a special print driver that will allow you to create a PDF file online from any application that can print. All this functionality is available for computers that do not have Acrobat Pro installed. Amazing!



Is the service free? Yes... and no. You can convert five files to PDF as a test drive, but the combining multiple files to a single PDF won't be available to you unless you subscribe to the service. The cost to use this service with unlimited conversions is only $9.99 per month. Visit https://createpdf.acrobat.com/welcome.html to give it a try or to subscribe to the service. You can access the tools from your Acrobat.com account too.

I believe the monthly fee is more than reasonable if you will be at various computers throughout your work-week, and Acrobat Pro is not always at hand. Remember, you can log in to the service from any machine with web access and a browser!
 

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About the author: David R. Mankin is a Certified Technical Trainer, desktop publisher, computer graphic artist, and Web page developer. And if that wasn't enough, of course David is an Adobe-certified expert in Adobe Acrobat.

Acrobat: SendNow is Live!

by David R. Mankin 

 

I have written articles about Adobe's ever-growing Cloud which started with an application called Buzzword. Adobe then added Presentations and then Tables.

Most of us are not tied to just one computer. It's likely that you use multiple devices throughout the day (a PC or two, a smartphone). It just doesn't make sense to have your valuable files sitting exclusively on just one of your devices. At some point you will need to access a specific file from more than one device. This is exactly why cloud computing is so valuable, and increasingly more necessary.

If you've ever tried to email someone a large attachment, you have probably run into email attachment size limitations. How then can you send a 15 megabyte email attachment? You'll love Adobe's new cloud-based SendNow service! If you already have an Acrobat.com account, you can log in and begin using SendNow immediately.

To use the SendNow feature, simply click Select File to locate your file. Type the email address of your intended recipient, jot a note to accompany the file and then click Send Now.



Your file will be uploaded into Acrobat.com and scanned for viruses. An email is then sent to your intended recipient, and they can then download the file from the SendNow server.

The SendNow service is multi-tiered, and pricing is very reasonable, considering that it offers a method of sending files (up to 2 Gigabytes in the Plus pricing, and 20 Gigabytes of online storage) from any machine TO any machine. There's a less expensive Basic plan, and heck--I'm using it for free to write this article and test it out!

Here's where I get to tie it in perfectly with Acrobat itself. In the soon-to-be-released Acrobat X, you can use the Share panel and send a file using SendNow. Easy, and awesome!

Want to learn a ton about Acrobat? Sign up for one of my live, online Acrobat classes.
 

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About the author: David R. Mankin is a Certified Technical Trainer, desktop publisher, computer graphic artist, and Web page developer. And if that wasn't enough, of course David is an Adobe-certified expert in Adobe Acrobat.

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