Technology Training and Education

Work with Form Fields

Sometimes the forms that Acrobat creates aren’t completely accurate or you wish to add onto what was already done. To do this you can manually edit the form field

1.  Open the PDF form or interactive form that you wish to edit

2.  Go to Tools panel > Forms > click on Edit


3.  In Edit Mode you can see the 8 different field options either:

  • On the toolbar across the top

 

  • By clicking on the Add New Field button under the Tasks panel

 

The Eight Different Form Fields

1.  Text Field 

  • This is the most commonly used field
  • Used by simply clicking in the field and typing any text

 

  • Allows for multiple lines of text

2.  List Box

  • Allows the users to pick from a pre-defined list
  • Clicking on one of the selections chooses that selection

 

  • Holding down the Control key on PCs or the Command key on MACs allows the user to select more than one option

 

3.  Dropdown Menu 

  • Users select one option from a dropdown list
  • Can be set up to allow users to select more than one item or enter their own item
  • It takes up less room than the List Box

 

4.  Check Box

  • This field should be used if you are presenting the user with a list of options for which they can make multiple choices
  • The user will click on the box next to their choices to place a mark there

 

5.  Radio Button

  • This field should be used if you have a list of options and you only want the user to select one of those options
  • The user will select their option by clicking on the circle next to it, if they click on a different circle, the first selection will disappear

 

6.  Button

  • This field, created the same as buttons mentioned in the document Add Rich Media and Interactivity, can be used to submit a form, clear all fields, save a form

 

7.  Barcode 

  • This must be used with a 3rd party software that allows you to create a barcode field that automatically pulls in or allows you to export information to or from a database


8.  Digital Signature

  • This field indicates where the user should click to insert their signature
  • Clicking here opens a window allowing the user to select how they want to insert their digital signature

 

Delete an Already Existing Field

1.  Open the PDF form or interactive form that you wish to edit

2.  Go to Tools panel > Forms > click on Edit'


3.  In Edit Mode select the field you wish to delete > right click > click on Delete

 

Add a Field

1.  In Edit Mode select the type of field you want to add from either

  • The Toolbar

 

  • Click on Add New Field under Tasks panel and select the field from there

 

2.  A cursor with a box will appear, indicating you can draw the field

 

3.  Click and drag to draw the new field

 

4.  When you let go, a yellow box will pop open. Enter the field name

 

5.  Click All Properties to edit the properties