User manual

Creating and editing form fields
If you've already created a PDF form with the Acrobat form tools, but want to take
advantage of the extensive form tools in Designer, you can use Designer to import the
PDF form or you can use the Edit Fillable Form command in Acrobat to start the import
process.
The more limited form features in Acrobat let you create a form field by choosing one of
the form tools, defining the area of the field on the Adobe PDF document page, and
naming the field. For each field type, you can set a variety of options through the form
field Properties dialog box. (SeeSetting Forms preferences.)
Note: Adobe Designer can edit form fields that you created with Acrobat, but Acrobat
can't edit form fields that you created with Designer.
To start Designer using Acrobat and edit an interactive PDF form:
1. Open the interactive PDF form in Acrobat.
2. Choose Edit Fillable Form from the Forms pop-up menu in the Tasks toolbar.
3. Do one of the following, according to the dialog box that appears:
● In the Edit Fillable Form dialog box, select Adobe Designer and click OK. If your PDF
form contains unsaved changes, click Save in the Adobe Acrobat dialog box. Click OK in
the Edit Form In Adobe Designer dialog box. A copy of your form opens in Designer.
● In the Edit XML Form In Adobe Designer dialog box, click OK. If your PDF form
contains unsaved changes, you first need to click Save in the Adobe Acrobat dialog box.
For more information on using Designer, see Designer Help.
To create a form field in Acrobat:
1. Choose Tools > Advanced Editing > Show Forms Toolbar.
2. On the Forms toolbar, select a forms tool.
3. Do one of the following:
● Drag the cross-hair pointer to create a form field of the required size.
● Double-click the page to create a form field using the default size.
Note: You cannot create a form field on top of a comment.
4. In the [form field name] Properties dialog box, set the form field's property options, and
then click Close. (For more information on setting the form field properties, see Setting
Acrobat form field properties.)
To add form fields to a PDF document's tags tree at the same time that you create
the form fields in Acrobat, make sure that Tag Annotations is selected in the Options
menu of the Tags tab. Select the item in the tags tree that should be the parent of the form
field you are about to create, and create the form field. (To add existing form fields to the
tags tree, see Advanced Tools for Correcting Tagging Errors.)
Related Subtopics:
Editing or deleting form fields in Acrobat
Selecting form fields
Duplicating form fields
Creating multiple form fields with Acrobat