Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional
1.Customizing the work area:
a. Change toolbars (View -> Toolbars)
b. Default: File, Find, Page Display, Page Navigation, Select & Zoom, Tasks
2.In order to create a PDF file that users can type in, the file must be a PDF. You can make a PDF file from a Word document.
a. Open up your Word document (i.e., Observation Form)
b. File -> Save as… ->ChoosePDF from the Save as type drop down
3.Open this PDF file in Adobe Acrobat Professional – it may open automatically. It is very easy to use the form Wizard to create fillable forms.
a. Click on the drop down arrow in Forms
b. Select Start From Wizard
c. A new window will pop up
d. Click the Next button. Use an existing file (PDF, Word, Excel, or other file type) is the default
e. Click the Browse button to find your previously saved PDF file (if it is not already open)
f. Click the Next button. Click Ok
g. Your form should appear with the fillable fields highlighted
h. Important – you will need to save your file before it can be distributed
4.Options for fillable fields (double click on any field to change it’s attributes, including the size)
a. General – name the field, indicate it’s visibility, and orientation (0, 90, 180, 270.) Fields can be visible, hidden, visible but doesn’t print, or hidden but printable. Fields can also be Read Only and/or Required.
b. Appearance – choose Border Color, Line Thickness, Fill Color, Line Style, Font Size, Text Color, and Font. If you choose Auto for Font Size, then the text will automatically resize itself to fit in the text box.
c. Options – choose Alignment (left, right, center), a Default Value, Multi-Line (if you want the text to be enterd on more than one line), Limit the number of characters, Check spelling, and other options.
d. Actions – Select Trigger (Mouse Up [clicking in the text box], Mouse Down, Mouse Enter, Mouse Exit, On Focus, or On Blur) or Select Action (Open a file, Open a web link, and many others.) You can also Lock the text box.
e. Format – choose None, Number, Percentage, Date, Time, Special, or Custom. The field value will be formatted as it is entered. To format fields automatically, select a format from the Format Category list. Note: Any field that is used in a calculation (like Qty or UnitCost) needs to be formatted as a number.
f. Validate – choose not validated, a field range, or run a custom validation script.
g. Calculate – choose value is not calculated, value is the sum / product / average / minimum / maximum of the following fields, a Simplified field notation, or Custom calculation script.
5.To edit fields
a. Click the Add or Edit Fields…
b. The file will now show all the editable fields
c. Double click on a field to change its attributes (see the list above in #4)
d. When you are finished editing, click the button.
6.To distribute the form
a. Click on the Distribute Form…
b. Browse to the form (if it’s not open)
If the form is already open, then just click on the Distribute Formbutton.
c. Click the Next button
d. Choose how you want to collect responses from the recipients
(1) Automatically download & organize responses with Acrobat.com (not recommended)
(2) Manually collect responses in my email inbox (recommended)
(3) Automatically collect responses on my own internal server (not recommended)
e. Click the Next > button
f. Choose Send it automatically using Adobe Acrobat
g. Click the Next > button
h. Fill out Email Address (required field), Name (required field), Title, and Organization Name:
6.Distributing the form cont.
7.Adobe will take a few seconds/minutes to go through the steps.
8.A new Tracker window will appear. This allows you to view recipients who have responded and email those who haven’t responded yet. You can also click on View Responses, which opens up another window and names it yourfilename_responses.pdf. (See #9 next page.)
9.Responses.pdf. Click the GET STARTED button and you will see all the responses. (See #10)
10.After you click GET STARTED, this window will automatically show up.
a. To automatically add the responses, open up the attachment from the recipients of your email in Adobe Acrobat.
b. You can manually add a response by:
(1) Right clicking on the attachment and selecting open. It’s automatic after that.
(2) Save the response, then click the Add button on the left and browse to the file.
11.Instructions for Recipientsto fill outthe forms. (Recipients will receive an email from you with the form attached.)
a. Double click to open the attachment in Adobe Reader. Or right click and force it to open in Adobe Reader if it doesn’t open automatically.
b. Click in each field to fill out the answers.
c. Click the “Submit Form” button (on the right hand side at the top.)
d. Fill out the “From Email Address:” and “Full Name”. (The “To:”, “Subject:”, and “Attachment:” are automatically filled out.)
e. Click the Send button
f. A Send Email window will automatically pop-up. Best to use the default (Microsoft Outlook.)
g. Click the Continue button.
h. That’s it – the form is automatically sent.
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