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Help! anyone create PDF/Adobe Forms regularly?

groovygrlgroovygrl member
in Working Moms

Getting frustrated & can't seem to find answers through google or the help search...

Here's my situation- I have a Word doc that was formerly used to collect info from ppl. It is a pain for them & for us b/c you can't just 'fill in the blank' or check a checkbox in Word. I thought surely it would be easy to make it into a fillable form. But not so... :)

Here are the 2 big issues right now that I can't figure out:

1. As I go through & add fields (text or checkbox or whatever), I find a few places where I'd like to edit or move the underlying text so that there is more or less space for the field. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to edit anything but the fields... can I not edit the text? If I created this whole form & then want to edit a few text areas, am I stuck starting all over again???

2. Multi-line text box. I have some sections where ppl would probably write a few sentences describing something. I see that you can select "multiline"in Properties-Options but I'm a little unclear about how it would look & how many lines it allows for, etc. What am I missing?

I have found tutorials but they're most just about how to add fillable fields to your existing documents, not the type of things I'm struggling with.
Thanks for any help!

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Re: Help! anyone create PDF/Adobe Forms regularly?

  • Karla CSKarla CS member
    I haven't done forms in Adobe for a really long time, but just wanted to say that you CAN do fill in the blank/checkbox in word using the "insert form field". It's not default in the ticker, but you can get it in there. Once your form is defined, restrict editing to filling in forms only. I use them a ton at work, and once your toolbar is set up right, it's really easy.
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  • SunidazeSunidaze member
    You can't edit the text of a Word document once you've converted it to a PDF.  At least not that I've found.
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  • oooCarrieBoooCarrieB
    I have Adobe Acrobat 9 pro that I use to make fillable forms. It's really easy to use the forms wizard to do it.

    Can't you edit in word and then turn into a PDF? Sorry if I'm not exactly following what you are trying to do.
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  • groovygrlgroovygrl member

    Thanks all...need to play around more. My alignment was screwy with some of the blanks even thought it looked like it was lined up and then I tried to save as Reader Extended PDF b/c I read that is what you had to do for ppl who only have Adobe Reader but it wouldn't let me? (I have Adobe Acrobat X Pro  )

    Then I sent it to myself on my mac & was able to fill in allt he areas but couldn't get the electronic signature box to work (though it worked on my work PC laptop) and also couldn't save it with the fields completed which defeats the whole purpose. 

    I think I need to see if lynda.com or somewhere has a course or in depth tutorial. Or look into the Word options pp mentioned. This was a waste of several hrs of my day :(

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  • oooCarrieBoooCarrieB
    Word doesn't always work the best for turning into a PDF. I use publisher which is way easier if that's an option for you.
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  • SunidazeSunidaze member
    imagegroovygrl:

    Thanks all...need to play around more. My alignment was screwy with some of the blanks even thought it looked like it was lined up and then I tried to save as Reader Extended PDF b/c I read that is what you had to do for ppl who only have Adobe Reader but it wouldn't let me? (I have Adobe Acrobat X Pro  )

    Then I sent it to myself on my mac & was able to fill in allt he areas but couldn't get the electronic signature box to work (though it worked on my work PC laptop) and also couldn't save it with the fields completed which defeats the whole purpose. 

    I think I need to see if lynda.com or somewhere has a course or in depth tutorial. Or look into the Word options pp mentioned. This was a waste of several hrs of my day :(

    i wish I was at my computer at work right now because I could better help...but you can save it in a way that will allow the end user to save the completed form.  I believe it is 'save as' and maybe something 'optimized' something. 

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  • gimmietimmiesgimmietimmies member
    imagegroovygrl:

    Thanks all...need to play around more. My alignment was screwy with some of the blanks even thought it looked like it was lined up and then I tried to save as Reader Extended PDF b/c I read that is what you had to do for ppl who only have Adobe Reader but it wouldn't let me? (I have Adobe Acrobat X Pro  )

    Then I sent it to myself on my mac & was able to fill in allt he areas but couldn't get the electronic signature box to work (though it worked on my work PC laptop) and also couldn't save it with the fields completed which defeats the whole purpose. 

    I think I need to see if lynda.com or somewhere has a course or in depth tutorial. Or look into the Word options pp mentioned. This was a waste of several hrs of my day :(

    The bolded should work, but you have to use a different file name than the original. It also sounds like you need to use dynamic form fields and drop down lists created in Acrobat. You can edit text once you're in Acrobat, especially if it's converted from Word or a good scan. You do need to run OCR recognition though, make sure you have your side bar open and the option will be there. Adobe forums usually have tons of solutions, including changing coding to make something work if needed. Just remember to bookmark it in favorites.
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  • preggersin2011preggersin2011 member
    You can make forms to be filled in out in word, but you have to create a template, and then have people save it in their trusted templates- HTH
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