We’ve been mining for Acrobat tips in preparation for Jason Hoppe’s upcoming workshop on Building PDF Forms. This week, we’d like to link to the mother lode of PDF Forms tips:
Ted Padova, author of the Acrobat Bible, has created this free 55-page document that covers some of his most frequent tasks when creating Acrobat PDF forms. The tips range from the design stage through adding specialized JavaScripts. And since the document is a PDF (of course) Ted has provided working examples of most the techniques in action.
Ted Pavoda’s 101 PDF Forms Tips.
Here is a breakdown of the 101 tips covered in this book:
Designing forms
- Breaking Page Borders
- Changing Midpoints on Objects
- Creating PDFs with Adobe PDF Layers
- Adding Buttons to Layers
- Adding Hyperlinks in Application Documents
- Designing for Run Form Field Recognition
- Replacing Pages
- Replacing Pages in Tiled Views
- Editing Text on a Form
- Editing Images on a Form
- Adding Document Properties
- Flattening Fields
Working with Fields
- Using Run Form Field Recognition
- Scanning for Run Form Field Recognition
- Creating Comb Fields
- Creating Arbitrary Masks
- Formatting Numbers
- Adding Button Faces
- Adding Rollovers to Button Faces
- Duplicating Buttons Across Multiple Pages
- Adding a Reset Button
- Submitting Forms to eMail Addresses
- Creating a Table
- Managing Fields
- Setting Appearance Defaults
- Duplicating Fields
- Adding an Address Block
- Renaming Fields
- Duplicating Check boxes and Radio Buttons
- Adding Barcode Fields
Initial Views
- Setting Initial Views
- Opening in Full Screen Mode
- Hiding the Cursor in FS Mode
- Hiding the Navigation Panel
- Viewing the Navigation Panel
- Setting Custom Zoom Levels
Writing JavaScripts
- Navigating Views
- Creating an Application Alert
- Dismissing Application Alerts
- Adding Line Breaks to Alerts
- Invoking Actions on Field Entry
- Assessing Viewer Versions
- Assessing Viewer Types
- Assessing Document Information
- Autotabbing Fields
- Printing Pages Via JavaScript
- Printing from the JavaScript Console
- Eliminating Fields From Print
- Printing with Annotations
- Creating Document Actions
- Date Stamping a Document
- Summing Rows and Columns
- Using Simplified Field Notation
- Summing Data with JavaScript
- Calculating a Sales Tax
- Calculating a Shipping Charge
- Importing Images
- Showing/Hiding Fields
- Resetting a Form
- Setting Fields to Read Only
- Deleting Fields
- Deleting Zeros from Calculation Fields
- Adding URLs to Text
- URL Links in New Windows
- Adding Annotations Using JavaScript
- Adding Fields Using JavaScript
- Determining x,y Coordinates
- Changing Text Colors
- Spawning Pages From Templates
- Changing OCG States
- Limiting Character Strings
- Popup Menus for URL Navigation
- Popup Menus for Page Views
- Popup Menus for Opening Files
- Emailing a PDF
- Emailing Form Data
- Checking for Empty Fields
- Creating Fixed Response Options
- Creating Application Response Dialog Boxes
- Adding Data to Secondary Forms
Adding Menu Items
- Counting Fields
- Counting Page Templates
- Listing Menu Items
- Adding a URL to a Menu
- Add a File | New Menu Command
Adobe LiveCycle Designer (Windows-only)
- Changing the Default Template
- Adding an Address Block
- Adding Button Imports
- Editing Backgrounds
- Binding an XML Sample File to a Form
- Testing the XML Data File
- Creating a WSDL Connection
- Enabling an XML Form
- Distributing an XML Form
- Adding a PDF Background
- Converting a PDF Form
- Using Transparent Images
- Calculating Columns
- Creating Tables
- Adding a Total Field to a Table
- LifeCycle Designer Resources Available to You
Source: This tip inspired by Jason Hoppe’s upcoming workshop Acrobat: PDF Forms in Seattle on April 30th. For designers outside of the Seattle area, check out Ted Padova’s Blog as well as his updated book, The Adobe Acrobat 8 PDF Bible.
