Completing and submitting PDF forms



    Fill in and clear a form

    If a PDF form contains interactive, or fillable form fields, you can fill in the form with one of the tools in the Select & Zoom toolbar: the Hand  tool or the Select  tool. When you place the pointer over an interactive form field, the pointer icon changes to one of the following:

    • Pointing Finger  or Pointing Hand Plus icon . Appears when the pointer is over a button, radio button, check box, or item in a list.

    • Arrow . Appears when you can select an item in a list of options.

    • I-beam icon . Appears when you can type text into the form field.

    If the form fields aren’t interactive, the basic pointer icon doesn’t change.

    Non-interactive PDF forms, also called flat forms, can be printed and filled in by hand. Or, in Acrobat, you can use the Typewriter tool (Tools > Typewriter > Typewriter) to type information over the blank form fields. You can then print a copy of the completed form. In Reader, the Typewriter tool is available only if the document author enables it for Reader users.

    Note: Some text fields are dynamic, meaning that they automatically resize to accommodate the amount of data you enter and can span across pages.

    Sample forms

    Patti Sokol, of Sokol Consulting, created two sample forms to show the differences between a flat form and an interactive form. Click here to see a flat form. Notice that you cannot type in the fields of a flat form. Click here to see an interactive form. You can highlight the fields and type in them.

    Be sure to read the information in the top text box of each sample form. Then move your cursor over the fields to see what actions are available. You can also print and save the forms to your computer.

    Fill in an interactive form

    1. If necessary, select either the Hand tool  or the Select  tool.
    2. (Optional) To make form fields easier to identify, click the Highlight Fields button  on the document message bar. Form fields appear with a colored background (light blue by default), and all required form fields are outlined in another color (red by default).
    3. Click in the first form field you want to fill in, either to select that option or to place an I-beam pointer in the field so you can start typing.
    4. After making a selection or entering text, do any of the following:

      • Press Tab or Shift+Tab to accept the form field change and go to the next or previous field.

      • Press the Up Arrow or Left Arrow key to select the previous radio button in a group of radio buttons, or press the Down Arrow or Right Arrow key to select the next radio button.

      • Press Esc to reject the form field change and deselect the current form field. If you’re viewing the form in Full Screen mode, pressing Esc a second time causes you to exit Full Screen mode.

        Note: If the current form field is a single-line text field, you can press Enter to accept your typing and deselect the field. If the current field is a check box, pressing Enter or Return turns the check box on or off. In a multiline text form field, pressing Enter or Return creates a paragraph return in the same form field. In all cases, you can press Enter on the keypad to accept the change and deselect the current form field.
    5. After you fill in the form fields, do any of the following:

      • Click the submit form button. Clicking this button sends the form data to a database across the web or over your company intranet.

      • In Acrobat, choose File > Save As, and rename the file to save the form with the data you entered.

      • In Reader, choose File > Save A Copy, and specify a location for the copy.
        Note: If the form author gave Reader users extended rights, the saved copy will include the entries you made in the form. Otherwise, the saved copy will be blank.

      • Export the form data.

      • Print the form.

    Clear a form in a browser

     Do either of the following:

    • Select the reset form button, if one exists. You cannot undo this action.

    • Quit the browser, and start again.

    Note: Clicking the web browser’s Reload or Refresh button, the Back or Go Back button, or following a link to another page may not completely clear the form.

    Clear unsaved form entries

     Choose File > Revert.

    Troubleshooting tips for completing forms

    If you’re having trouble filling in and submitting forms, check the following conditions.

    Quick things to check first

    • Make sure the security settings allow form filling. (See File > Properties > Security.)

    • Make sure the PDF includes interactive, or fillable, form fields. Sometimes form creators forget to convert their PDFs to interactive forms, or they intentionally design a form you can only fill in by hand. If you can’t type in the form fields, then the fields are probably not interactive.

    • Check for additional capabilities and restrictions in the purple document message bar, just below the tool area.

    Additional forms tips for Acrobat users

    • If the form doesn’t have interactive form fields, open the form in Acrobat 9 (any version) and choose Forms > Add Or Edit Fields. Check if this message appears: “Currently there are no form fields on this PDF. Do you want Acrobat to detect the form fields for you?”. You can click Yes to run the Form Field Recognition tool, or use the Typewriter tool to create form fields.

    • If the message “This operation is not permitted” appears when Reader users open or submit your form, check for unembedded fonts or hidden objects. Choose Files > Properties > Font to check for unembedded fonts. Choose Document > Examine Document to locate and remove content you don’t want. For more information, see http://www.acrobatusers.com/forums/aucbb/viewtopic.php?pid=35535#p35535.

    • If you have checked all these conditions and still can’t fill out and submit the form, post your question on the Acrobat forum at http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx/.3bbeda8b/.

    Additional forms tips for Reader users

    • If the form doesn’t have interactive form fields, you can ask the form creator to place form fields on the document. Or, you can download a 30-day free trial of Acrobat 9 (Windows only). In Acrobat, you can use either the Typewriter tool or Form Field Recognition tool to create form fields.

    • If the form creator enabled additional capabilities, then the Document Extensions panel (View > Navigation Panels > Document Extensions) is available. You can open the panel to see what else you can do with the form. For example, you might be able to save and print data, add comments, and digitally sign it.

      Other functions, such as editing document content, or inserting and deleting pages, are restricted.

    • If you have checked all these conditions and still can’t fill out and submit the form, post your question on the Reader forum at http://www.adobeforums.com/cgi-bin/webx/.3bbeda8a/.

    Auto-Complete a form

    The Auto-Complete feature stores any entries that you type in a PDF form field, and then suggests or even automatically enters responses that match your typing in other form fields. The suggestions appear in a pop-up menu, from which you can select a match. The Auto-Complete feature is off by default, so you must enable it in the forms preferences if you want to use it.

    If you want to remove an entry from the Auto-Complete memory—such as a misspelled entry that you found and corrected later—you can edit the list in the preferences.

    Enable the Auto-Complete option

    1. Open the Preferences dialog box.
    2. Select Forms on the left.
    3. Under Auto-Complete, choose Basic or Advanced from the menu.
    4. Select Remember Numerical Data if you want the Auto-Complete memory to store numbers that you type into forms.
    When you select an option in the Auto-Complete menu, a description of how it affects the Auto-Complete behavior appears in the text area below.

    Delete an entry from the Auto-Complete memory

    1. Open the Preferences dialog box.
    2. Select Forms on the left.
    3. Click Edit Entry List.
    4. In the Auto-Complete Entry List dialog box, do one of the following, and then click Yes in the confirmation dialog box:

      • To remove all of the entries, click Remove All.

      • To remove some of the entries, select the entries and click Remove. (Shift-click to select multiple adjacent entries; Ctrl-click to select multiple nonadjacent entries.)