54. Create a Form in Acrobat Before You Begin  1 Create a PDF in Acrobat 4 Create PDFs from Microsoft Office 47 About PDF Forms
See Also  55 Send Form Data Through the Web
For the user who prefers to create a PDF form in Acrobat, Mac OS users, or Acrobat Standard users who do not have Adobe Designer available to them, you can create your form within Adobe Acrobat. You won't have all the options available to you that you would have in Designer, and you won't be able to use the wizards and templates, but you can create robust and professional forms with all the interactive elements that you would want. | 1. | Open the Source Document
The main difference between creating a form in Acrobat versus Designer is that in Acrobat you must start with an existing form document. This document must have all the text labels and graphic elements in place already; you use Acrobat to add the actual interactive elements such as text fields, check boxes and radio buttons , pop-up menus , and drop-down lists. For example, you can create the original form document in Adobe InDesign, convert it to a PDF, and then add the interactive form elements to it in Acrobat.
From the File menu, select the Open command and browse to the file you will be using as the basis for your PDF form. If you are using a document other than a PDF, under the Create PDF submenu, select the appropriate command, such as From File, From Scanner , or From Multiple Pages . Acrobat converts the documents into a PDF.
| | 2. | Add Text Fields If not already displayed, from the Tools menu, select Advanced Editing, Show Forms Toolbar . This opens the Forms Toolbar . Click the Text Field tool to select it, and click and drag the mouse cursor to create the text form. After releasing the cursor, the Text Field Properties dialog box appears. Under the General tab, enter the name of your text field in the Name text box. You have the option to enter a brief description of the text field in the Tooltip text box. You can change the border, fill color , and font of the text field under the Appearance tab.       The Options tab enables you to set the alignment of the text, whether it's Left, Center , or Right aligned. You can set a Default Value of the text box by typing text in the text box provided. Other options available are allowing the text box to be multilined, scrolling long text, allowing rich text formatting, limiting the number of characters in the text box, setting the text as a password so text is displayed as asterisks , having Acrobat check the spelling of the text entered by the user, and finally spacing characters out evenly across the text box by selecting Comb of Characters and entering the number of characters. You can change the format of the text box under the Format tab. Categories include the following: - Numbers Allows you to change the decimal place and type of separator, such as placement of a comma, country currency symbol, and how to display negative numbers
- Percentage Sets the decimal place and separator style
- Date Lets you set how you want the date to be displayed, such as m/d/yy, mm/dd/yy, or mm/dd/yyy
- Time Sets how time is displayed on the form, such as HH:MM or HH:MM:ss, or you can even create your own custom time display by combining the various time formats
- Special Allows for specified text entry, such as ZIP Codes, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, and arbitrary masks
- Custom Lets you create your own custom formatting with JavaScript
You can also restrict the information entered in the text field by the user under the Validate tab, such as only allowing alphabetic text in the text field. You can run JavaScript to also validate the information entered into the text field by selecting the Run Custom Validation Script , clicking the Edit button, and entering the JavaScript in the Create and Edit JavaScript window. Select the Calculate tab when working with numbers in the text box. Acrobat can perform simple calculations such as the sum, average, minimum, or maximum of numeric values in a set range of text boxes. For more advanced mathematical calculations, you can enter custom JavaScript in the Custom Calculation Script by clicking the Edit button and entering the script in the Create and Edit JavaScript window. NOTE  | To view or edit the properties for an existing form element, select the tool that was used to create the object from the Advanced Editing toolbar. Then double-click the object or right-click the object and select the Properties command. Once in the Properties dialog box, make any desired changes. These changes are immediately applied to your object. | | | 3. | Add Check Boxes and Radio Buttons
Check boxes and radio buttons are similar in many ways. Select either the Check Box tool or Radio Button tool and click and drag the cursor at the desired location. When you release the mouse, the Check Box Properties box or Radio Button Properties box appears.
Under the General tab, enter the name in the Name field. You can set the common properties of the form field to be Visible, Hidden, Visible but Doesn't Print , or Hidden but Printable . If you select the Required option, the user will be required to take action on this field before saving the form.
The Appearance tab lets you change the border and fill color, along with the font, font size , and color.
The Options tab for check boxes allows you to change the check box style. The check box can be the standard check mark in a box, or you can choose from one of the following other marks: circle, cross, diamond, square, or star. The default Export Value is Yes . This means that, if the data is exported, the value for this field is marked as yes or true , indicating this option was selected on the form. Select the Check Box Is Checked by Default option if you want the box to be checked by default.
The Options tab for radio buttons enables you to change the button style. Such choices include a check mark, circle, cross, diamond, square, and star. By default, the Export Value is set to Yes . Select Button Is Checked by Default to set the button default to yes. The important difference between check boxes and radio buttons is that with radio buttons, only one out of a set can selected at one time. To designate a set of radio buttons, give them all the same name in the General tab. With check boxes, some, none, or all can be selected in the same set.
| | 4. | Add Menus and Lists
To place either a drop-down menu or list, select the Combo Box tool or List tool in the Forms toolbar. (Drop-down menus are also referred to as combo boxes .) Click and drag the cursor to create the menu box. When you release the cursor, the Combo Box Properties dialog box appears. Type a name for the combo box in the General tab under Name . To add items to the combo box, click the Options tab. In the Items box, add the items you want to display in your list. You must also enter a value in the Export Value box. This value is what is captured when the information provided by the user is gathered either by email or a database. Click the Add button and continue to add items. If you need to change the order in which the items are listed, select the item and click the Up or Down button to move the item accordingly . If you have entered an item in error, select the item and click the Delete button to remove it from the list.
Lists are similar to drop-down/combo boxesthe only real difference is that lists display multiple items. Drop-down/combo boxes display only one item until the user opens the menu.
| | 5. | View the Result
It is good practice to save your work from time to time. To see how your PDF form will interact, select the Hand tool. This takes Acrobat out of the form edit mode and allows you to test your form. Click radio buttons, select items from drop-down/combo boxes, insert text, and see how it is formatted.
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