Adding Fields to Forms

Although creating a simple interactive form from scratch in Acrobat 6 is certainly possible, most people find that what they really want is to add interactivity to a form that is already set up. For example, say that in the past you’ve paid big bucks to a graphic designer for a logo and spent even more to print reams of forms with your new logo on them. However, now you want people to fill out your forms online to save trees (and money). To do so, you just need to convert your form to PDF and then add the necessary form fields. Acrobat 6 (Professional version only) provides seven different form field tools (Button tool, Check Box tool, Combo Box tool, List Box tool, Radio Button tool, Text Field tool, and Digital Signature Field tool) used to create interactive form fields, and each is covered in later sections of this chapter. The tools are grouped together on the Forms toolbar that you open by choosing Advanced Editing➪Forms➪Show Forms Toolbar. The Forms toolbar appears in its undocked (floating) state, which makes it easy to access when you’re building an interactive form. Like most forms, this example uses numerous cells (such as the Name and Date cells) for writing information in. You need to add fields to these areas so that users can enter data on-screen in the finished product. Fields that you enter text or numbers into are called text fields. Naturally, you create these types of fields in a form with the Acrobat Text Field tool. After you convert your form to PDF and open it in Acrobat 6, use the following steps to add text fields to the form:

1. Click the Text Field Tool button on the Forms toolbar or press F to select the Text Field tool.
(Note that you can display the Forms toolbar, by choosing Tools➪Advanced Editing➪Forms➪Show Forms Toolbar.) The cursor turns into a cross-hair pointer, which you use to draw square or rectangular shapes for your fields.
2. Drag the Text Field tool pointer to draw a box in the desired field area of your PDF form and release the mouse button.
The Text Field Properties dialog box opens.
3. On the General tab of the Text Field Properties dialog box, type a name for the field in the Name text box, and then enter a short description or instruction in the ToolTip text box, if desired.
The ToolTip is the message that appears when a user hovers the mouse over the form field.
4. Choose options for the text field from the tabs provided.
5. Click OK to close the Text Field Properties dialog box.
The field box appears in your document in editing mode, that is, outlined in bold red with its name in the middle of the box. Presto, you’ve added a text form field to your PDF document! Here are some important characteristics of your new form field:

• Unselected fields are colored black but turn bright red when you click the mouse to select them.
• Sizing handles appear on a selected field box to facilitate resizing.
• To edit a field’s name or change options, double-click the field to open its Field Properties dialog box.
• To delete a field, select the field and press the Delete key. Each form field tool creates its own unique form field type — one that can only be selected and edited with the form field tool that created it. For example, you can’t select and edit a radio button form field (created with the Radio Button tool) with the Text Field tool. When you have a number of different of form field types in a PDF document, use the Select Object tool (Tools➪Advanced Editing➪Select Object Tool), which can not only select any one of the seven form field types, but also let you access their specific options by right-clicking a form field and choosing Properties on the context menu. This is much easier than switching back and forth between different form field tools for selection and editing.

When drawing a text field box with the Text Field tool’s cross-hair pointer, make sure to keep the lines of the box inside the boundaries of the cell or line you’ve chosen in your PDF form. This ensures that when a person is filling out the form, his or her data won’t overflow those boundaries.