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Electronic documents
In Windows, you can start with an existing form or you can create a new one in an authoring
application, such as Word, Excel, or InDesign, and convert it to PDF. Or you can start with an existing PDF and use
Acrobat to add form fields and other forms features.
Blank documents
In Acrobat 8, you can create a PDF from a blank page and use the new PDF Editor feature to add
text. Then, you can use the Forms tools to add form fields of various types. Or, in Windows, you can create a form
in LiveCycle Designer, taking advantage of its powerful collection of advanced features and tools.
LiveCycle Designer templates (Windows)
Using the wizard from the Forms > Create New Form command, you can
select an appropriate type of form document. Then, you personalize it by swapping out placeholder text, graphics,
form fields, and properties with custom ones that you provide or define.
Using Acrobat versus LiveCycle Designer (Windows)
LiveCycle Designer is included with Acrobat Professional for Windows. LiveCycle Designer enhances the form-
creation features in Acrobat and offers a robust collection of advanced features and controls.
Note:
Acrobat users on Mac OS can create and edit forms in Acrobat only if those forms haven’t been opened and saved
on Windows in LiveCycle Designer. Of course, Acrobat and Reader users on Mac OS can open and fill in any PDF form,
regardless of whether it was created on Windows or Mac OS, or which program was used to save it.
Similarities
Use either Acrobat or LiveCycle Designer to do any of the following:
• Use a paper document scanned to PDF as the basis of a form.
• Convert an existing electronic document to PDF, to be the basis of a form.
• Design forms, starting with a blank page. (Forms created from a PDF using the PDF Editor feature in Acrobat have
limited formatting options available.)
• Run automatic form-field recognition on existing PDFs and documents converted to PDF.
• Edit PDF forms created in Acrobat.
• Create forms to distribute by email or post on a website for people to download onto their computers for
completing in Acrobat or Reader or for printing and completing by hand.
• Create forms that users can complete in Acrobat or Reader and submit through email.
Differences
Acrobat and LiveCycle Designer differ in these ways:
• In LiveCycle Designer, you can start with one of the blank, built-in templates—predesigned layouts that you edit
and customize.
• YoumustuseLiveCycleDesignertoeditanyformsthathavebeenopenedandsavedinLiveCycleDesigner,even
if the form was originally created in Acrobat.
• In LiveCycle Designer, you can extend compatibility back as far as Acrobat 6.0 and Reader 6.0 for most form data
fields. In Acrobat, you can extend compatibility as far as Acrobat 4.0 and Reader 4.0.
• LiveCycle Designer can create forms in formats that it can convert into HTML. This ability makes LiveCycle
Designer the better application to use if you intend to post the interactive form on a website for people to fill in
and submit from within a browser. You can also integrate PDF forms into existing workflows by binding forms to
XML schemas, XML sample data files, databases, and web services.
• With LiveCycle Designer, you can use scripting objects, integrate a form with a data source, and create dynamic
forms.
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Note:
You can start LiveCycle Designer from the Windows Start menu, or from within Acrobat Professional, either by
choosing Forms > Create New Form and following the wizard for creating a new form or by selecting a Forms task in the
Getting Started window.
Decisions based on form content
Planning your PDF form depends on what information will be exchanged through the form. Different types of infor
mation correspond to various form elements, which are designed especially for that kind of data.
In Windows, the choice between editing a form in Acrobat or editing it in LiveCycle Designer is also influenced by
the content of the form.
Your answers to the following questions may guide your decision about what elements to include in the form layout
and which application to use to create and edit the form.
What information do I need to collect from the user?
This most basic planning step depends on your goals in sending out the form.
What information should I provide to the user?
Besides providing the questions and labels for information the person filling in the form will provide, many forms
identify the person or organization that originated the form and provide contact information, instructions, graphics,
logos, and so forth.
If you want toedit the text or change the layout of an existing PDF form, you must edit the original source document
in its native authoring application or, in Windows only, you can edit the file in LiveCycle Designer.
Do I want to receive barcoded information? (Windows)
Barcoding fields are supported by both Acrobat and LiveCycle Designer, with more options available in LiveCycle
Designer.
What are the different types of information the users will submit?
PDF forms can collect many kinds of data: typed text, numbers, a single selection from limited choices, multiple
selections from limited choices, and so on. The data you want to collect affects the types of form fields you use.
For example, List Box fields force users to choose just one answer from a list of limited possibilities, but you could
configure radio buttons that would do the same thing. Which you use might depend on the amount of space
available, usability factors, and design aesthetics.
What user-input is essential and what information can be optional?
This issue is an offshoot of your primary goal for the form. It’s helpful to identify what data fields are essential and
should be set up as required, as compared to data that is only supplementary for other purposes. For example, if the
form is a purchase order, you cannot send the merchandise to the purchaser without a shipping address. However, if
the user left a “Comments” field blank, you could still carry out the primary function of the form, so you wouldn’t
want to mark it as a required field.
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Which form fields could benefit from information formatting?
Many types of form fields can be configured to accept only certain types of information. For example, text boxes can
be set up to accept only numbers, only letters, or a combination of the two. You can restrict input to specific
sequences, such as those for dates, telephone numbers, or Social Security numbers. You can create fields that
automatically display calculations from other fields. You can set text field properties so that the field area scrolls,
allowing users to write lengthy responses without taking up a large area of the form.
Decisions about the form’s work cycle
Planning your PDF form depends on the methods you’ll use for collecting data. In Windows, the planning also influ
ences your choice between editing a form in Acrobat or editing it in LiveCycle Designer.
Your answers to the following questions may guide your decision about what elements to include in the form.
How do I want users to send back information?
The possibilities include:
• On paper or fax, to be collated manually.
• On paper or fax, to be scanned and save as an electronic document.
• On paper or fax, to be scanned and interpreted from one or more barcode fields included in the form.
• As an email attachment that includes the entire form.
• As an email attachment that includes only the form data.
• Through an Internet or network connection directly to a database.
What are the needs of those who will fill out the forms?
Consider the following factors, which affect who can fill in a form and how comfortable they are in doing so.
• Compatibility. Consider whether all members of your intended audience are likely to be using the latest version
of Acrobat or Reader to fill in the form. You may need to set up the form to be compatible with earlier versions.
• Security. Especially if the form captures sensitive or personal information, consider adding security measures,
such as passwords, digital signatures, or masked form data to protect you and your audience, and to prevent others
from being able to access the data.
• Adobe Reader users. Consider granting Reader users extended rights for the form so they can save a copy of the
completed form before submitting it.
Do I want to track response levels?
Acrobat 8 offers tracking features that you can use to keep yourself informed on the submitted data. For more infor
mation on this topic, go to the Adobe website.
Choosing form elements
Once you’ve determined what information you want to receive from users, you can match information types with
appropriate form elements.
• For text and numeric data that the user will type in, design the form to use text boxes or combo boxes.
• For a single choice from a limited number of options, use radio buttons, a list box, or a combo box.
• For a limited number of options from which the user can select none, one, or more items, use check boxes, or use
a list box and set the form field properties to allow multiple selections.
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• For actions, such as opening a file, playing a sound or video, submitting form data, and so forth, use buttons.
• For added security, add a digital signature field that verifies the user’s identity.
You can also make changes to individual form field properties, making it even easier and more foolproof for users
filling in the PDF form.
Barcode workflow
Barcode fields translate a user’s form entries into a visual pattern that can be scanned, interpreted, and incorporated
into a database. Barcodes are helpful when users submit the form on paper or by fax.
The advantages of using barcodes are that they save time, eliminate the need for responses to be manually read and
recorded, and bypass data-entry errors that can occur.
A typical barcode workflow includes the following phases:
• The form author makes sure that Automatically Calculate Field Values is selected in the forms preferences, and
then creates the form in Acrobat, setting up all the other fields as usual.
• The form author adds the barcode field to the form, setting up the barcode so that it captures the needed data.
• The form author enables the form for Reader users (if the author wants to allow Reader users to save their own
filled-in copy of the form or if it contains certain barcode fields).
• The form author distributes the form to other users.
• Users fill in the form on their computers, print a copy, and deliver the copy to the form distributor.
• The received barcode data is interpreted in one of the following ways, and can then be reviewed, sorted, and used
by the form receiver:
Forms faxed to a fax server
The form receiver can use Adobe Acrobat Capture to collect TIFF images from the fax
server and place them in an Adobe LiveCycle Designer Barcoded Forms Decoder watched folder, if the receiver owns
those products.
Forms delivered on paper
The form receiver can scan paper forms and then use an application such as Adobe
LiveCycle Barcoded Forms Decoder to decode the barcodes within those forms.
Note:
Acrobat Capture and LiveCycle Barcoded Forms Decoder are standalone products appropriate for enterprise
workflows and are sold separately from Acrobat.
Design tips for barcodes
Issues that affect how you design and place barcodes include usability and space. As an example, the barcode size can
also limit the amount of data that can be encoded. For the best results, follow these guidelines.
• Position the barcode so that it’s unlikely to get folded when placed in an envelope, and position it far enough from
the edges of the page so that it won’t get clipped off during printing or faxing.
• Position it so that it can be easily seen and scanned. If a handheld scanner will be used, avoid barcodes wider than
4 inches (10.3 cm). Tall, narrow barcodes generally work best in this case. Also, avoid compressing the contents of
the barcode when using a handheld scanner.
• Makesurethatthesizeofthebarcodecanaccommodatetheamountofdatatoencode.Ifthebarcodeareaistoo
small, it turns a solid gray. Be sure to test a completed form before distributing it to make sure that the barcode
area is large enough.
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See also
“Create, test, and edit barcode fields” on page 219
“Manage custom barcode settings” on page 230
Form elements in Acrobat
A PDF form created with Acrobat can contain the following types of elements:
Barcodes
Encode the input from selected fields and display it as a visual pattern that can be interpreted by decoding
software or hardware (available separately).
Buttons
Initiate achange on the user’s computer, such as opening a file, playing a sound, or submitting data to a web
server. These buttons can be customized with images, text, and visual changes triggered by mouse actions.
Note:
Action buttons have a different purpose than radio buttons, which represent data choices made by the user.
Check boxes
Present yes-or-no choices for individual items. If the form contains multiple check boxes, the user can
typically select as many or few of these as wanted.
Combo boxes
Let the user either choose an item from a pop-up menu or type in a value.
Digital signature field
Lets the user electronically sign a PDF document with a digital signature.
Document message bar
Displays automatically generated information about the PDF form and can display action
buttons and other options. The document message bar also informs Reader users about their usage rights for the
form.
Note:
If form recipients are using older versions of Acrobat or Reader, the document message bar may not be visible or
may contain different information.
List boxes
Display a list of options the user can select.
Note:
You can set a form field property that enables the user to Shift-click or Ctrl-click/Control-click to select multiple
items on the list.
Radio buttons
Present a group of choices from which the user can select only one item.
Text boxes
Let the user type in text, such as name, address, or phone number.
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A
B
C
Adobe Acrobat PDF form
A.
Digital signature field B.
Combo box C.
Text boxes D.
Forms document message bar E.
Check boxes F.
Radio buttons G.
List box
H.
Buttons
See also
“Setting action buttons in Acrobat” on page 232
“Enable Reader users to save form data” on page 213
Creating and editing forms
Creating new forms
You can add interactive form fields to a PDF by using the extensive form tools in LiveCycle Designer (Windows) or
the basic form tools in Acrobat Professional.
LiveCycle Designer is a standalone application that is included with Acrobat Professional for Windows or can be
purchased separately.
In Windows, you can initiate the process of creating a LiveCycle Designer form either from within that application
or from Acrobat, using the Create New Forms wizard.
In Acrobat, you can initiate the process of creating an Acrobat form by clicking either Convert An Existing
Document or Scan A Paper Form in the Getting Started window, or by opening an existing PDF and choosing
Forms > Run Form Field Recognition.
D
E
F
G
H
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Note:
PDF form fields that were created in Acrobat Professional can be modified in LiveCycle Designer, but PDF form
fields that were created in LiveCycle Designer can’t be modified in Acrobat Professional.
See also
“Using Acrobat versus LiveCycle Designer (Windows)” on page 207
About the Create New Forms wizard
The Create New Forms wizard initiates the process of creating a form in LiveCycle Designer. Forms saved in
LiveCycle Designer can be opened and distributed in Acrobat, but you cannot use the Acrobat Forms toolbar or
other Acrobat forms features to edit a LiveCycle Designer form.
There are several ways to start the Create New Forms wizard from the Acrobat work area: from the Acrobat Forms
menu, the Acrobat File menu, or from the Forms page of the Getting Started window, by clicking Browse The
Template Library or Create New Form.
Each page in the wizard contains complete instructions on how to proceed. For information on how to edit forms in
LiveCycle Designer, refer to LiveCycle Designer Help by starting the LiveCycle Designer application and choosing
Help > Adobe LiveCycle Designer Help.
Enable Reader users to save form data
Ordinarily, Reader users can’t save filled-in copies of forms that they complete. However, you can extend rights to
Reader users so they have the ability to do so. These extended rights also include the ability to add comments, use
the Typewriter tool, and digitally sign the PDF.
1 Choose Advanced > Enable User Rights In Adobe Reader.
2 Read the instructions that appear, and then click Save Now.
These extended privileges are limited to the current PDF. When you create a different PDF form, you must perform
this task again if you want to enable Reader users to save their own filled-in copies of that PDF.
Creating secure PDF forms
PDF forms can be secured in the same ways and by the same methods as other PDFs. Security can be especially
important when sensitive information is included in the form.
See also
“Securing PDFs” on page 263
“About digital IDs” on page 253
Make Adobe PDF forms accessible (Acrobat)
You can make form fields accessible to vision- and motion-challenged users by adding tags to the PDF and by
properly structuring it. In addition, you can use the Tooltip form field property to provide the user with information
about the field or to provide instructions. For example, using the Tooltip property’s value, the screen reader could
say “Your name.” Without the Tooltip property, a screen reader simply names the type of form field.
1 If necessary, choose Forms > Edit Form In Acrobat, and make sure that the Select Object
tool is selected.
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Note:
If the Forms menu shows the Edit Form In LiveCycle Designer command, then use the corresponding procedure
for that application. See LiveCycle Designer Help.
2 Do one of the following to open the form field’s Properties window:
• Double-click a selected form field.
• Click the More button in the Properties toolbar. (If this toolbar is hidden, choose View > Toolbars > Properties bar.)
3 In the General tab, type a description into the Tooltip box.
See also
“Accessibility features” on page 287
Adding JavaScript to forms
The JavaScript language lets you create interactive web pages. Adobe has enhanced JavaScript so that you can easily
integrate interactivity into PDF forms. The most common uses for JavaScript in Acrobat Professional forms are
formatting, calculating, validating data, and assigning an action. In Windows, you can also configure Adobe PDF
forms to connect directly to databases using Open Database Connection (ODBC). For more information, see the
JavaScript™ for Acrobat® API Reference on the JavaScript support page (English only) of the Adobe website.
Note:
If you’re creating dynamic forms, keep in mind that Reader doesn’t support some custom JavaScripts, so the form
may not function properly when viewed in Reader unless additional usage rights are added to the PDF.
For information on customizing Acrobat, see the Acrobat Software Development Kit (SDK). The Acrobat SDK is
provided tomembersof the Adobe Solutions Network (ASN) Developer Program. For information on this SDK, visit
the Adobe Acrobat SDK page (English only) on the Adobe website.
See also
“Enable commenting for Adobe Reader users” on page 155
Laying out new form fields
Create form fields in Acrobat
In Acrobat, you create a form field by choosing one of the form tools, dragging on the document page to define the
size and location of the field, and naming the field. For each field type, you can set a variety of options through the
form field Properties dialog box.
Note:
In Windows, you can use LiveCycle Designer to edit forms that were created in Acrobat, but Acrobat can’t edit
form fields that have been opened and saved in LiveCycle Designer. LiveCycle Designer offers additional features and
possibilities than are available in Acrobat alone. However, there are some situations in which Acrobat forms are
preferable.
See also
“Using Acrobat versus LiveCycle Designer (Windows)” on page 207
“Form fields behaviors” on page 222
Documents you may be interested
Documents you may be interested
