ADOBE READER 8
User Guide
74
Forms basics
What are PDF forms?
You’re already familiar with paper forms: documents with blanks that people fill in and deliver to the appropriate
person or organization. An Adobe PDF form is a computer-based version of a form, which can either be distributed
through email or CDs, or published on a website.
PDF forms can be ordinary PDFs with blank form fields or they can be
interactive
. Ordinary PDFs are a convenient
way of publishing forms that must be printed, filled out by hand, and physically delivered, such as by mail or fax. An
interactive form can be filled out on a computer and may be submitted through an Internet or local network
connection. The built-in security features can safeguard the privacy of electronically submitted data.
Interactive forms simplify the work users must do to provide the needed information. Electronically submitted forms
can be labor-saving at the receiving end, too, because the data from many individuals can be set up to be collated
automatically.
Viewing a PDF form
When you open a form that someone sends you to fill out, a document message bar appears between the Reader
toolbars and the form itself.
The left side of the message bar typically displays instructions about how to complete and return the form. If you
open the form in Adobe Reader, the usage rights associated with that form are also described in this area. You can
hide or show the document message bar by clicking the button
.
The right side of the message bar has one or more buttons. The first is a Highlight Fields button, which colors the
backgrounds of all blanks to be filled in and outlines any required blanks, making it easy to see them at a glance.
You navigate and adjust views of a form in exactly the same way that you do in ordinary PDFs.
Note:
You can change the default settings for highlight color, whether forms open with the document message bar visible
or hidden, and other viewing options in the Forms Preferences. Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Reader >
Preferences (Mac OS), and select Forms under Categories.
Types of PDF forms
The way in which you fill in and submit information on a PDF form is determined by the person who created it.
Fill-and-print PDF forms
Contain interactive form fields or static form fields; either way, the person filling in the
form must manually deliver a printed copy of the form, such as by mail or fax.
Submit-by-email PDF forms
Contain a button that either extracts all interactive-field data from the PDF form and
attaches it to an email message or attaches the entire filled-in PDF form to the message.
Submit-online PDF forms
Contain a button that sends all interactive-field data to an online repository, such as a
database. Available only when Reader is open inside a web browser.
When you fill in a PDF form, you can press Tab to jump from one form field to the next. After you Tab to a check
box or button that you want to select, press Enter or spacebar to select it (or to deselect it, if it’s already selected).
Printing and saving PDF forms
Interactive forms can be filled in using either Adobe Reader or Acrobat. Users running either of these applications
can save a blank version of the form, and they can print copies of their completed forms before submitting them.
Summary of Contents for READER 8
Page 1: ...Chapter 1 USER GUIDE...
