Creating Fill-able Forms using Acrobat 8.0: Part 1

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1 Creating Fill-able Forms using Acrobat 8.0: Part 1 The first step in creating a fill-able form in Adobe Acrobat is to generate the form with all its formatting in a program such as Microsoft Word. Then convert this form to PDF. Once a form is in PDF format; text fields, checkboxes, drop down lists, etc can be added. Objective 1: Convert form from Word or other format to PDF. Method 1 Use the Acrobat toolbar to convert Microsoft Office files to PDF. To Convert to PDF using the Acrobat Toolbar 1. Open your Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file. 2. On the Acrobat Toolbar click the Convert to Adobe PDF button. 3. Choose a location for saving this file and give the file a name. Then click Save. 4. The conversion process may take a few minutes. When complete the newly created PDF file will open inside of Adobe Acrobat for you to make further changes such as adding book marks. Method 2 Use the Print Command to convert Microsoft Office files or other types of files to PDF. To Convert to PDF using the Print Command 1. Open your Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file. 2. Click File on the Menu bar then click Print. 3. In the Printer section, click the Name drop down list and select Adobe PDF. 4. Click OK. 5. Choose a location for saving this file and give the file a name. Then click Save. 6. The conversion process may take a few minutes. When complete the newly created PDF file will open inside of Adobe Acrobat for you to make further changes such as adding book marks. Training 1 October 3, 2007

2 Objective 2: Insert Text Fields on the form. To Insert Text Fields 3. From the Form menu, click Text Field Tool. 4. On the PDF form, place your cursor over the location where you want to add the text field, left click drag down and to the right to create a box for the text field. 5. In the Text Field Properties window, select the Appearance tab if necessary. Make the necessary formatting changes for this text field. It is a good idea to set a Fill color for the text field. Usually this would be something subtle like a pale yellow. 6. Then click the General tab, in the Name box enter a name for the information to be entered into this text field. For instance if the text field is for inputting an address then put Address in the Name box. 7. Click the Format tab and select a format for the type of information that will be entered into to the field. NOTE: If you want to have people input a telephone number or a social security number, you can have Adobe Acrobat automatically format them with hyphens. From the Text Field Properties window, select the Format tab, then from the Select format category drop down list, click Special. From the Special Options list select Phone Number or Social Security Number. 9. Repeat steps 4-7 for all Text Fields needed on the PDF form. Training 2 October 3, 2007

3 Objective 3: Use Text Boxes to calculate values on the form. Text Boxes can be used to perform some basic calculations on a form. For example you can use a text box to display a calculated value that is dependant upon values entered in other fields on the form. To Perform Calculations in a Text Box 1. Create the text box as mentioned in Objective If necessary, right click on the text box and click Properties to open the Text Box Properties window. 3. Click the Calculate tab. 4. Select the Value is the radio button. Then in from the drop down list select the appropriate function for calculating the value to store in the text field. 5. Next click the Pick button. Select the check boxes that correspond to the fields that will be used in the calculation. Then click OK. 6. Click Close. 7. Repeat steps 2-6 for all necessary text boxes. Objective 4: Insert Check Boxes on the form. To Insert Check Boxes 3. From the Form menu, click Check Box Tool. 4. On the PDF form, place your cursor over the location where you want to add the check box, left click drag down and to the right to create a box for the check box. 5. In the Check Box Properties window, select the Appearance tab if necessary. Make the necessary formatting changes for this check box. It is a good idea to set a Fill color for the check box. Usually this would be something subtle like a pale yellow. 6. Then click the General tab, in the Name box enter a name for the information to be entered into this check box. 7. Click Close. 8. Repeat steps 4-7 for all Check Boxes needed on the PDF form. Training 3 October 3, 2007

4 Objective 5: Insert List Boxes or Combo Boxes on the form. Combo and list boxes present multiple choices to the user in the form of a list. Each has characteristics that recommend it in certain situations. Which field you use may depend on whether you want users to be able to select more than one item or whether you want more than one choice displayed. List Box Characteristics The size of the field created will determine how many of the choices are visible. Additional choices can be viewed by scrolling the box. The form developer can allow multiple selections from the list. If that is the case, users will click to select the first item and then press [Ctrl] and click to select additional, noncontiguous items. To select multiple contiguous items, users click to select the first and then press [Shift] and click the last item, thereby selecting all items in between as well. To Insert List Boxes 3. From the Form menu, click List Box Tool. 4. On the PDF form, place your cursor over the location where you want to add the list box, left click drag down and to the right to create a box for the list box. 5. In the List Box Properties window, select the Appearance tab if necessary. Make the necessary formatting changes for this list box. It is a good idea to set a Fill color for the list box. Usually this would be something subtle like a pale yellow. 6. Then click the General tab, in the Name box enter a name for the information to be entered into this list box. 7. Click the Options tab, and in the Item box, enter a value to be shown in the list box, and then click Add. Repeat for all values to be shown in the list box. 9. Repeat steps 4-8 for all List Boxes needed on the PDF form. Training 4 October 3, 2007

5 Combo Box Characteristics The size of the field created does not cause multiple items to display; only one choice is displayed. Additional choice are revealed by clicking the. Users can select only one item from a combo box. To Insert Combo Boxes 3. From the Form menu, click Combo Box Tool. 4. On the PDF form, place your cursor over the location where you want to add the combo box, left click drag down and to the right to create a box for the combo box. 5. In the Combo Box Properties window, select the Appearance tab if necessary. Make the necessary formatting changes for this combo box. It is a good idea to set a Fill color for the combo box. Usually this would be something subtle like a pale yellow. 6. Then click the General tab, in the Name box enter a name for the information to be entered into this combo box. 7. Click the Options tab, and in the Item box, enter a value to be shown in the combo box, and then click Add. Repeat for all values to be shown in the combo box. Check the Allow user to enter custom text box if you want to allow the user to enter a choice that is not listed. 9. Repeat steps 4-8 for all Combo Boxes needed on the PDF form. Objective 6: Insert Radio buttons on the form. By using radio buttons in your form you can present users with specific options from which they can select only one. To Insert Radio Buttons 3. From the Form menu, click Radio Button Tool. 4. On the PDF form, place your cursor over the location where you want to add the radio button, left click drag down and to the right to create the radio button. 5. In the Radio Button Properties window, select the Appearance tab if necessary. Make the necessary formatting changes for this button. 6. Then click the General tab, in the Name box enter a name that identifies the radio button(s). Training 5 October 3, 2007

6 7. Then click the Options tab, in the Export Value box, enter the value that is specified by checking that radio button. 9. Repeat steps 4-8 for all buttons needed on the PDF form. Objective 7: Create buttons for clearing information on the form. To Insert Buttons 2. Click Tools on the Menu bar, then point to Forms. 3. From the Form menu, click Button Tool. 4. On the PDF form, place your cursor over the location where you want to add the button, left click drag down and to the right to create the button. 5. In the Button Properties window, select the Appearance tab if necessary. Make the necessary formatting changes for this button. It is a good idea to set a Fill color for the button. Usually this would be something like a light gray. 6. Then click the General tab, in the Name box enter a name that corresponds to the action to be performed by the button. For example, if I wanted the button to clear the form I might name the button Clear. 7. Click the Options tab. In the Icon and Label section, locate the Label box and enter a name to identify the function of the button. For instance, I might enter Clear as a label. 8. Finally, click the Actions tab. From the Select Action drop down list, select that appropriate action that you want to happen when the button is clicked. For instance, I might select Reset a form. Then click the Add button. 9. If you chose Reset a form, in the Reset a form window, select the check boxes that correspond to the fields that should be reset or cleared when the button is clicked. Then click OK. Training 6 October 3, 2007

7 10. Click Close. 11. Repeat steps 4-10 for all buttons needed on the PDF form. Objective 8: Aligning and sizing form fields. Often when you create a field, then a second field, you'll want the field sizes to be the same dimensions and aligned. Acrobat makes it easy to size and align all fields to an anchor field you designate. Multiple fields need to be selected and one of these fields is the anchor field. The anchor field is shown in red. To Resize Form Fields 1. Click Tools on the Menu bar, then point to Forms. 2. Select the forms tool you used to create the form field that you want to change. 3. Click the first field then hold down the CTRL key and select the other fields that need to be resized. 4. Right click on one of the selected fields. Then point to Size and choose Height, Width, or Both. To Align Form Fields 1. Click Tools on the Menu bar, then point to Forms. 2. Select the forms tool you used to create the form field that you want to change. 3. Click the first field then hold down the CTRL key and select the other fields that need to be aligned. 4. Right click on one of the selected fields. Then point to Align and choose Left, Right, Top, Bottom, Vertically or Horizontally. Objective 9: Fill out a PDF form. Once you have created your form you need to test it out from the user point of view. Try entering text into the text fields, selecting from a drop down list, selecting radio buttons, etc. To Fill out a Form 1. Click the Hand tool on the Basic toolbar. Click in the first field and enter your information. Then use your mouse or the tab key to move from field to field entering information. Training 7 October 3, 2007