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Adobe Acrobat Pro X & Online Forms Last Update: 10/14/2014

Introducing PDF Forms:

Steps What You See Generating a PDF form is an easy process. Form elements come in a variety of types. You can make form types for entering in text, selecting radial buttons, inserting interactive buttons, and even a place for someone to insert their digital signature. Box for entering in text information:

Box for inserting a digital signature:

Hidden box plus Interactive Button combination:

Drop down menu options:

Note: Adobe is not where you create your document before adding form elements. Instead you will use Word, Photoshop, or other text and visual editing programs to develop your design. You can also scan in an image and develop a PDF form document from that. Remember just about any commonly utilized electronic file can be converted into PDF.

Adobe Acrobat Pro X & Online PDF Forms Creating a Form


Forms: Steps What You See

Forms tools can be found within the tools panel. Expand the list to see all tools available. The highlighted items will be covered in this guide.

1.) Create – Use to make a new form 2.) Edit – Edit the document form fields

already present by adding or manipulating form fields on top of the document

3.) Distribute – Send and share your form with others. Send and collect data form recipients.

4.) Track – Keep up with forms distributed

5.) Highlight or turn fields invisible a. If highlight is off, then it will

not be clear to the user that the items can be filled in

6.) Clear Form – This removes all form entry data from the current form fields

7.) More Options – a. Compile Returned Forms b. Manage Form Data into a

spreadsheet


Create Form:

Steps What You See Click: Create Note: In the example to come we have turned a Word document using a template called Employee Performance Review into a PDF by inserting it into Adobe Acrobat Pro X.

Click: The radial option “Use an existing file” Note: If you have a scanned image you can select the Scan a paper form to get started. The Forms Central option – This option is free for very limited use. To have full access to the online services it will cost $12 / month. We will not discuss Forms Central in this tutorial.


Select:

1.) Use the current document a. Use this option to use the

document already shown in Adobe Acrobat

2.) Import a file from file system a. Use this option to find a file to

convert into a PDF form In this example we will choose option 1. Click: Next

Click: Save You will need to save out your form to prevent changes from being made to the original document Note: If you save with the same file name in the same location as your original file, you will be writing over that file

After saving, you will be entered into form editing mode. The right hand panel changes to offer form specific tasks.

1.) Add New Field – This is a dropdown menu of different form attribute options

2.) Distribute – Distribute your form via e-mail or server

3.) Track – Maintain a track of form entries received

4.) Close Form Editing – This is how you leave Form Editing

5.) Other Tasks – Explore this list to perform more form field tasks


Add Form Fields:

Steps What You See Click: Add New Field Click: On desired form field option from the drop down menu In this example we shall choose Check Box

Mouse: Over to area to click and drop shape Click: To finalize location of field box

The check box will appear in desired location. For similar shaped items, it is best practice to first insert all items first before resizing. Later you can select multiple items at once to resize. Select Multiple Items By:

1.) Ctr. + Click each form item 2.) Ctr. + a to select ALL FORM ITEMS 3.) Left click and drag mouse over area to

select 4.) Shift + Click bottom form item after

clicking on top element


Resize the field box: Click: The check box you just created to select it or select multiple form fields as described above Now do any one of the following: Manual Method: Drag: corner dot to desired size (Note: Hold Shift and Drag to maintain aspect ratio. This will only do one at a time) Resize by one pixel: Press: Ctr. + Arrow key Resize by 10 pixels: Press: Ctr. + Shift + Arrow key

Manual Method:

Manual Method using Shift Key:


Alter Form Fields: Steps What You See

Field Name: When working on your form you will want to pay attention to the field name as shown to the right. If you have matching field names, then the data entered will copy in both field boxes.

Form Field With Same Name:

To change the field name: Double Click: on the field item you wish to manipulate Type: The new Name you wish to title that field type. Note: Doing so will prevent a duplicate entry from being made by mistake… For this particular instance we would like to cut down time by leaving the Name as a matching field item. This will allow the selected date to be reflected in three different field spots on purpose.

Field entry is highlighted in Blue, signifying

that it has been selected

The following prompt appears


Field Box Options: For field options like radio button, dropdown and list box you will need to provide more selections for your end-user to choose between.

Double Click: on the field item you wish to manipulate Select: Options tab Type: In the Item section what you wish to add to your list Click: Add button to add the item to your Item List

Note: The options tab will be available for all field items. There will be some similarities, but this area will change depending on what field type you are changing Items: What is shown here will be the first value the end-user will see before making their own decision. Export Value: If receiving reports back to a database, this field will be what is sent to you… Note needed for most applications. Item List: All items in this list is what an end-user can select from


Sort items: Alphabetizes and numerically places field items Allow user to enter custom text: This would be handy if you are using a form that is missing an option that the end-user believes is needed Check Spelling: Spell-checks custom entries Commit selected value immediately: Saves the value immediately after end-user selects it Locked: No changes can be made to the properties of the selected field type until this is marked as unlocked.

For a more comprehensive report on field type options go to: University of Wisconsin-EAU Claire http://www.uwec.edu/help/acrobat9/for-fldoptions.htm Note: This list is comprehensive, but is for Acrobat 9, not 10.

http://www.uwec.edu/help/acrobat9/for-

fldoptions.htm

http://www.uwec.edu/help/acrobat9/for-fldoptions.htm





Action Field Options: Steps What You See

For this scenario, we will look at making a button for printing and sending out an e-mail attachment to a specific e-mail account What you see on the right is what we will aim towards making.

Select: Button from the Add New Fields section under the Tasks panel


Note: Use the dotted lines to help align your button Mouse: to the locations you wish to start from Left click and drag: Your mouse to draw the rectangular shape to the desired size

Change the field name by typing where you see Button#. Note: Doing so will help you know what the button is for, and will not be viewable to the end-user. Type: Submit Form

Double Click: button to view Button Properties Notice how the field name has changed to the same name you have put in previously.


General Tab: Tooltip: If the end-user places their mouse over the button, the text you type here will be viewed Form Field: This dropdown menu has four options, which affect the printed view, as well as, the end-user experience during the process of filling in all of the field types

Note: We want our button to be visible and not printable

Orientation: If you wish to orient to a different angle, then select from the options in this dropdown list Read only: Don’t select this option, unless you want to have a space for people to simply read text and have a colored box behind it that you cannot interact with Required: In this scenario this item is grayed out and not selectable. However for most field types this option will prevent the user from submitting the form, until they have selected or placed in information in this field.

Let’s make a red button: Click: Appearance Tab Border Color: Controls the color used around your button, it also opens up the ability to select Line Thickness and Line Style.

Line Thickness: Choose how you would like the border color to appear

Line Style: Choose what setting you would like for your button to appear as. A more button appearance would be beveled.

Select: Beveled


Fill Color: Controls the background color of your button To adjust the text size, color and font type: Note: You will not see the effect of doing so until you have selected the Layout option to as one of the label options. We will go over this next.

Options: To make our button select Label only, Push, and State as Up. Layout: This option controls where and what your button looks like

• Label only – Just the text is displayed as shown in the Label section

• Icon – Icon is displayed, based on picture chosen for work

Behavior: Determines how the end-user will see their click manipulate the button

• Push – Button is pressed in • Outline – Generates a dashed

line around button area • Invert – Flashes the color of

the button into an inverted tone • None – No button change in

appearance after clicking on it State: This is how the buttons appear based on position.

• Up – This is the resting position • Down – This is the position when

being clicked on • Rollover – This is the position when

you mouse over the button Note: State is dependent upon Layout selected above.


Actions: Trigger: This is how you would like your end-user to make said action or actions happen… Note: Mouse Up is most commonly used Select Action: We are interested in choosing “Submit A Form” Note: There are many actions you can add or remove Click: Add when you have “Submit A Form” selected Mouse Up

When the mouse button is released after a click. This is the most common button trigger, because it gives the user one last chance to drag the pointer off the button and not activate the action. When the page containing the media clip becomes the current page.

Read More Here: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/acrobat/X/pro/using/WS58a04a822e3e50102bd615109794195ff-7c99.w.html

The following prompt will appear: Type: The URL you are using to database your information, or your e-mail. Example: mailto:[email protected] Select: PDF The complete document Click: Ok

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/acrobat/X/pro/using/WS58a04a822e3e50102bd615109794195ff-7c99.w.html



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