Design forms

    Create a form

    With Adobe FormsCentral, you can design your own forms from scratch, or use one of the included sample forms as a starting point.

    To create a form from scratch:

    Note: A free Adobe FormsCentral subscription allows you to create and distribute one form (and receive up to 50 responses). If you want to create more than one form or collect more responses, upgrade your subscription. To upgrade, choose Upgrade from the menu in the upper-right corner of the application window.
    1. Log in to Adobe FormsCentral.
      Note: If you’re using the Adobe FormsCentral desktop app, it’s not necessary to log in to create forms. However, not all form tools are available when you’re not signed in.

    2. Click New Form.

    3. Select the label position from the Labels Position pop-up menu in the toolbar.

      • Labels Top: Labels appear above the form elements.

      • Labels Left: Labels are left-aligned to the left of the form elements.

      • Labels Right: Labels are right-aligned to the left of the form elements.

    4. Click in the title bar at the top of the form and type the form header.

      Note: Adobe FormsCentral uses the text you enter in the header as the filename for the form. If you don't enter any text in the header, your form is named “New Form MM/DD/YY.”

    5. Use the Form Element panel to add elements to your form.

      View full size graphic
      Form Element panel
      A.
      Text field

      B.
      Multiline text field

      C.
      Date field

      D.
      Email field

      E.
      Single-choice field

      F.
      Multiple Choice field

      G.
      Drop-Down Menu

      H.
      Single Checkbox

      I.
      Rating Scale

      J.
      File attachment

      K.
      Formatted text

      L.
      Image

      M.
      Horizontal line

      N.
      New page

      Text field single line
      Field can contain one line of text. Drag the resize handle at the right side of the text field to resize it. You can toggle a single-line text field to a multi-line text field by selecting Multiple Lines Of Text in the Properties panel.

      Text field (multi-line)
      Contains two or more lines of text. The text box expands and contracts to fit text. To resize the text box manually, drag the resize handle at the lower-right corner of the text box. You can toggle a multi-line text field to a single-line text field by deselecting Multiple Lines Of Text in the Properties panel.

      Date field
      Displays a calendar icon to the right of the form element. Respondents click the icon on the fillable form to open the calendar, which has the current date preselected.

      Email field
      Allows respondents to enter their email address. Adobe FormsCentral prompts the respondent to enter a valid email address, if necessary. Adobe FormsCentral displays email addresses displayed in a table cell as underlined, clickable links.

      Single choice field
      Allows respondents to select a single choice on the fillable form by clicking a radio button.

      Multiple choice field (checkboxes)
      Respondents select one or more choices on the fillable form by clicking checkboxes.

      Drop Down Menu
      Respondents choose one selection from a pop-up window on the fillable form. Drag the resize handle at the right side of the text field to resize it.

      Single checkbox
      Allows form respondents to select the choice by clicking a checkbox.

      Rating Scale
      Respondents select their responses from a tabular grouping of single-choice fields. This form element type is commonly used in surveys to express a rating scale.

      File Attachment
      Allows respondents to attach files to the fillable form. You determine the maximum file size allowed for each File Attachment field. You can also specify whether the respondent can attach multiple files, and what file formats are allowed. Adobe FormsCentral lets you upload many different file formats, including audio and video. (File attachments aren’t supported in locally stored PDF forms created using the Adobe FormsCentral desktop app.)
      Note: For paid subscribers, the total allowable file size of files uploaded in a single submission is 20 MB. Free users can upload files that are 100 KB or smaller, up to 100 KB per submission.

    6. Click Edit Caption at the top or left of the element (depending on the label position) to add a label for that element. You can adjust the padding around the caption by dragging the resize handle to the right of the caption. Changing the padding affects all form elements.

    7. Click the plus icon or press Enter to add choices to the form element. When you’re working with a Single choice field (drop-down) element, you can click the Collapse choices icon to hide the choices you’ve entered. Click the Edit choices icon to show the choices again.

    8. (Optional) To make a multipage form, click the New Page button at the right of the Form Element panel.

    Note: The Form Element panel always appears at the bottom of the form. Collapse the form by clicking the minimize icon in the upper-right corner. Make the panel appear inline by clicking the Insert Inline button at the upper-left corner of any form element. (The Insert Inline button isn't available for any form elements when you have multiple elements selected.)

    The inline panel is removed from the screen after you add a form element. However, the Form panel at the bottom of the window remains.

    Note: You can also add form elements by right-clicking (Windows) or Ctrl-clicking Mac OS and choosing an option from the context menu. Or, you can choose an option from the Insert menu in the upper-right area of the Adobe FormsCentral window.

    To create a form from a sample form:

    1. Click the Templates tab at the top of the Adobe FormsCentral window.

    2. Browse the templates; you can narrow your choices by clicking a category at the left of the window. Preview a template by hovering your mouse over the template and clicking Preview. Adobe FormsCentral opens the template in a new browser window so that you can preview it.

    3. Select the form that you want to use, and then click New Form to the right of the template.

    4. Customize the template to suit your needs using the Form Element panel and toolbar.

      Customize a form

      You can customize your form using the form element-specific Property panel and the Adobe FormsCentral toolbar. You can also give your form additional elements, such as a background color, static text, static images, and horizontal rules.

      Note: You can use the Property panel to change the type of any form elements you've added to the form. For example, if you've added a Single Selection field, you can change it to a Multiple Selection or Drop Down Menu.

        Add a form title

        Use the Form Setup dialog box (File > Form Setup) to add a title that appears in the web browser’s title bar for the fillable form. Authors and co-authors can access the Form Setup dialog box. If you’ve added header text to the form, this text appears in the Title field of the Form Setup dialog box by default. Changing the text in the Title field of the Form Setup dialog box doesn’t change any form header text you’ve applied. Likewise, once you’ve changed the text in the Title field, changes to the header text don’t affect the title.

        Change the form width

        You can change the width of the form by using the Form Setup dialog box or by dragging the right edge of the form. Your form can be from 300 through 1500 pixels wide.

        Note: When you change the form width, Adobe FormsCentral maintains the width of form elements as much as possible. It is possible, however, that some elements may be shrunk to fit the new form width. And, if you shrink the form width in a side-by-side layout such that adjacent elements no longer fit on a single row, Adobe FormsCentral adds rows to accommodate the elements.

        Customize the header

        The Header element can contain text, an image, or both. Use the toolbar and Property panel to customize the look of the header. The Header element grows or shrinks dynamically to fit the image or text within it. To format the header text, first select it. From the toolbar at the top of the window, you can change the font, font size, style, color, or alignment.

        Add an image to the header by choosing Text & Image from the Header Properties dialog box. Choose an image from your computer, or search for one on Flickr, Google, or the web. After you've placed an image, resize it by dragging the handle in the lower-right corner.

        Note: You can only add images that are commercially available and can be modified. For Google, images are labeled for commercial use and modification (see www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=29508 for more information). For Flickr, results shown are Creative Commons-licensed and commercially usable with modification. For more information, see www.flickr.com/creativecommons/.

        To change the Header image, double-click it and then choose a new image. The maximum size for a header image is 300 x 620. To remove an image from the Header element, choose Text only from the first pop-up menu in the Header Properties panel. Using the options in the Header Properties panel, you can change the placement of the image and determine how the text and image are aligned. You can also add a background color to the Header element. (You can also change the image alignment using the Left Align, Right Align, Center Align, and Justify Align buttons in the toolbar.)

        Header Properties panel
        A.
        Header elements

        B.
        Image placement

        C.
        Text/Image alignment

        D.
        Background color

        You can remove all elements from the header by clicking the trash can icon in the upper-right corner of the Header element.

        Side-by-side layout

        Adobe FormsCentral allows you to lay out a form both vertically and horizontally. To add an adjacent form element, click the Add Adjacent button on the right side of the last form element in a row. Alternatively, you can right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac OS) an element and choose Insert Item Beside from the context menu.
        Note: Some form elements, such as the Page Break, File Attachment, and Rating Scale elements cannot be placed adjacent to other form elements. These elements always reside on a row by themselves.

        When you place a form element adjacent to another, Adobe FormsCentral may shrink one or more of the existing elements in that row to accommodate the new element. If the new element cannot fit, even when all elements are shrunk to their minimum size, Adobe FormsCentral places the new element on a separate row.

        Format label and caption text

        Use the toolbar at the top of the application to format label and caption text in form elements. Change the font, size, style, color, or alignment. Format all of the text in the element at once by selecting the element and choosing one or more formatting options. Or, format an individual text item by selecting just that item.
        Note: In a Rating Scale form element, you can change the text formatting for individual questions. However, the text formatting for all options (choices) is the same. If you change the formatting for one option, the formatting for all other options changes as well.

        Change the caption reserve

        The caption reserve is the amount of space allocated for a form label. You can change the width of the caption reserve by selecting a form label, and then dragging the handle that appears on its right side. When you change the caption reserve of the first element in a row, that change is applied form-wide. However, in a side-by-side layout, you can adjust the caption reserve for the second and subsequent elements in a row independently.

        Add hyperlinks to label text

        You can add hyperlinks to the label text in any form element. Adobe FormsCentral supports hyperlinks only in label text; you can’t add hyperlinks to caption text, such as the choices in a Drop Down form element.

        1. Select the text that you want to assign the link to.

        2. Choose Insert > Link. Alternatively, you can right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac OS) and choose Insert Link from the context menu.

        3. In the Insert Link dialog box, enter the URL or email address that you want to link to. Then, click Insert Link.

        You can format text you’ve assigned a hyperlink to just as you format other text. Select the text, and then use the formatting tools on the Adobe FormsCentral toolbar.

        To edit the link itself, right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac OS) and choose Edit Link from the context menu. Likewise, to remove a link, choose Remove Link from the context menu.

        Add a background color and static elements

        Add static elements to your form, such as a background color, text, images, and rules.

        Background color
        Click the Page color icon in the toolbar and choose a color from the pop-up menu. The selected color is applied to the background of your form.

        Formatted text
        Click the Formatted Text icon on the Forms panel to add one or more lines of static text to your form. Optionally, format the text using the toolbar at the top of the form

        Image
        Click the Image icon on the Forms panel to add an image from your computer, Flickr, Google, or the Web.

        Browse for an image on your computer, search Flickr or Google for an image, or enter the URL of an image on the Web. After placing an image, you can resize it by dragging the corner of the image.

        Horizontal rule
        Click the Horizontal rule icon to add a separator line between form elements. Use the Item Properties dialog box to change the Style and Color of the rule.

        Resize form elements (side-by-side layout)

        When you use a side-by-side layout, you can manually resize form elements by selecting an element and dragging the handle of its right side. When you resize an adjacent element, Adobe FormsCentral may proportionately resize other elements in the row. Adobe FormsCentral may reflow the content in a resized form element.

        Note: Resizing elements doesn’t affect the width of the form.

        Move form elements

        Reposition form elements by dragging the Move handle of the form element. You can move elements from one row to another. Or, if you have a side-by-side layout, you can move elements to a new location within a row. Click the Move Handle and drag the element to where you want it to appear on the form. (To cancel a move operation, press Esc or click outside the Adobe FormsCentral window.)

        Note: When you drag elements from one row to another in a side-by-side layout, Adobe FormsCentral may resize elements to accommodate all elements in the new row.

        Select multiple elements to and move them as a group. To select contiguous elements, press the Shift key and select the first and last elements in the group. To select noncontiguous elements, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS). To move the selected elements, drag the Move Handle on one of the elements.

        You can also use options in the context menu to move form elements. Right-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) and choose Move Up One or Move Down One.

        Copy and paste form elements

        To copy a form element, right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac OS) the element, and then choose Copy from the pop-up menu. To paste, right-click or Ctrl-click where you want the element to appear, and then choose Paste from the pop-up menu. The form element is pasted in the following locations:

        • No form elements selected: The copied item is pasted to the bottom of the form.

        • One element selected: The copied item is pasted after the selected element.

        • Header is selected: The element is pasted before the first element in the form.

        • Multiple form elements selected: The element is pasted after the last selected element.

        Note: When you copy nonconsecutive elements, they are grouped into consecutive rows or columns for pasting (based on their original locations).

        Remove form elements

        To remove a form element, do one of the following:

        • Click the trash can icon at the upper-right corner of the form. (This option is unavailable when multiple form elements are selected.)

        • Right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac OS) and choose Delete from the pop-up menu.

        • Select the form element and press the Delete key.

        When you delete a form element from a row in a side-by-side layout, Adobe FormsCentral doesn’t resize the existing elements. It simply shifts the other elements to fill the row.

        Edit field properties

        Use the Property panel to edit form element properties that aren't available in the toolbar. The Property panel appears to the right of a form element when one or more form elements are selected. The panel is hidden when no elements are selected. The options in the Property panel vary depending on the type of form element selected. If you have multiple form elements selected, only the Field Properties that are common among those elements appear in the Property panel. The “Required” option is available for each type of form element, so this option appears in the Property panel regardless of how many elements are selected.

          Set data limits for form elements

          There are several options that you can set, which limit the amount (or range) of data that a respondent can enter on the fillable form. These options vary depending on the form element that you’ve selected.

          Limit Character Count
          Sets a limit for the minimum and maximum number of characters that a respondent can enter in a text field in the fillable form. This option is available for Text Field and Multiline Text Field form elements.

          Limit Choice Selections
          This option sets a limit for the fewest and most allowable choices in a Multiple Choice form element.

          Limit Date Range
          This option, which is available for Date Field form elements, allows you set the allowable date range from which respondents can choose dates for the Date form element on the fillable form.

          To set a data limit for a form element, select the element, and then choose the limit option for that element from the Property panel. Depending on the form element, enter the character limit, choice limit, or date range. (For Date Field form elements, you can click the calendar icon that appears to right of each limit, and choose a date from the calendar.) For Text Field form elements, the maximum number of characters you can enter is 10,000.

          If a respondent enters a response that either doesn’t meet or exceeds the limits you’ve set, they receive an error when they submit the form. The error prompts them to enter responses that fall within the limits that you’ve set.

          Conditional form elements

          The conditional elements feature lets you show or hide form elements based on conditions, or rules, that you define. For example, you can show an additional form element only to respondents who answer a previous question in the form in a particular way. This feature is available only in forms that paid subscribers author. Authors and co-authors can edit conditional elements; the feature is disabled for all other roles.
          Note: Conditional elements are supported in web forms, but not PDF forms. To use conditional form elements, sign in to an Adobe FormsCentral account and move your form online.

          Display Rule dialog box

          Use the Display Rule dialog box to create, edit, and view display rules. A display rule consists of an action, one or more targets, and one or more conditions.
          Action
          The action of a conditional element specifies whether the target is shown or hidden.

          Target
          A target is any graphical form element including fields, text, images, or lines. The form header and any page break elements cannot be targets. A display rule can have more than one target. However, an element cannot be the target of more than one rule.

          Condition
          A condition is an expression that includes a choice field, a test, and a value (the field's choices). A rule can have more than one condition. You specify whether one or all of the conditions must be met. To create a display rule, there must be at least one choice field on your form before the conditional element.

          Create conditional elements

          1. Select the form element for which you want to define a display rule.

          2. Select Show/Hide in the Property panel to open the Display Rule dialog box.

            View full size graphic
            Display Rule dialog box
            A.
            Show/Hide

            B.
            Conditions

            C.
            Target

            D.
            Any/All

          3. Choose Show or Hide from the pop-up menu in the upper-left corner of the Display Rule dialog box.

          4. Choose one or more elements that you want to show or hide from the target pop-up menu. You can show or hide any form element other than the header or any page break elements.
            Note: Any elements that are targets of an existing rule or elements that occur before a conditional field are dimmed in the target pop-up menu.

          5. Choose whether some or all of the conditions must be met from the All/Any pop-up menu in the upper-right corner of the dialog box.

          6. Click Add Condition.

          7. In the Condition section, define one or more conditions for the rule.

            • Choose a source from the Source Field pop-up menu. This menu lists all choice fields (that is drop-down, single-selection, and multiselection), single checkbox, and Rating Scale form elements that precede the rule's target.

            • Choose Is or Is Not to specify the test (equality or inequality) for the condition.

            • Choose a value from the Select Value pop-up menu. This menu shows all the choices for the selected source field.

          8. Click OK.

          Edit or remove conditional elements

          To edit the display rules for conditional element, select the element and then click Edit at the bottom of the Property panel. The Edit link is available to forms owned by paid subscribers and any co-authors they assign. For Contributors, the Property panel displays a View link. Contributors can view the display rules, but cannot modify or remove them. To remove the display rules for an element, select the element, and then deselect Show/Hide in the Property panel.

          Rating Scale form elements

          A Rating Scale form element consists of a label, one or more questions (rows) and two or more options or choices (columns).

          View full size graphic
          Rating Scale form element
          A.
          Label

          B.
          Questions

          C.
          Options (choices)

          Rating Scale questions

          Add questions to a Rating Scale form element by clicking Add Row at the bottom of the Element. Adobe FormsCentral adds the row to the bottom of the element. Or, insert a question by selecting a row and clicking the plus icon that appears in the upper-left corner of that row. When you insert a row, Adobe FormsCentral adds it before the selected row.

          Rearrange rows by dragging the move handle at the left of the row. To remove a row, select it and click the X icon that appears to the right of the row.

          Rating Scale options

          By default, a Rating Scale form element displays the Agree-Disagree preset. You can change the Rating Scale options by choosing a preset from the Property panel that appears when you select the form element. There are eight presets:
          Disagree-Agree
          Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree

          Not Likely-Likely
          Very Unlikely, Unlikely, Neutral, Likely, Very Likely

          Unimportant-Important
          Unimportant, Low importance, Neutral, Important, Very Important

          Worse-Better
          Much Worse, Worse, Same, Better, Much Better

          Unsatisfied-Satisfied
          Very Unsatisfied, Unsatisfied, Neutral, Satisfied, Very Satisfied

          Never-Always
          Never, Rarely, Occasionally, Frequently, Always

          Bad-Good
          Very Bad, Bad, Neutral, Good, Very Good

          1-5
          1, 2, 3, 4, 5

          You can add an option by clicking the plus icon in the upper-right corner of the Rating Scale form element. You can also add an option by pressing Enter when the last option is selected. Adobe FormsCentral adds the new option to the end of the element. To insert an option between two existing options, select an option and press Enter. Adobe FormsCentral inserts the new option to the right of the selected option. There is no limit to how many options a Rating Scale element can have. If necessary, Adobe FormsCentral increases the form width to accommodate the new options.

          To remove an option, select it and then click the X icon in the upper-right corner of the option. To reorder options, hover your mouse over the option that you want to move, and then drag the move handle to the left or right.

          Note: When you edit a preset (add, insert, remove, rename, or move an option), Adobe FormsCentral displays “Custom” in the Preset pop-up menu in the Property panel. Editing the options doesn’t affect any response data that’s already been collected.

          Add instructional text

          To add instructional text for a form element, click Include Help Text in the Property Panel for that element.

          Add page navigation rules

          The Conditional Page Branching feature allows forms authors to determine what page respondents go to, based on how they answer particular questions. This feature is available for forms owned by paid subscribers. However, if a paid subscriber designates a free subscriber as a Co-Author, that Co-Author can add, remove, and edit conditional branching rules.

          Note: Conditional Page Branching is supported in web forms, but not PDF forms. To use Conditional Page Branching, sign in to an Adobe FormsCentral account and move your form online.

          To set up conditional branching, you apply a navigation rule to a New Page element. The rule specifies a destination page and the conditions under which to navigate to that page. You can apply one navigation rule to each New Page Element.

          Before setting up page navigation rules, create all of the form fields and put conditional questions on separate pages so they can be skipped.

          1. Open a form in Design view.

          2. Add one or more choice form elements (single selection, multiple selection, drop-down menu, single checkbox, or rating scale).

          3. Add a New Page (page break) element.

          4. Select the New Page element and then select Navigate To Page in the Field Properties dialog box.

          5. In the Navigate To Page dialog box, set the destination page and conditions:

            Go Directly To
            Specifies the default page to navigate to when the conditions you specify aren't met. The page listed by default is the next page following the page break.

            Unless
            This pop-up menu lists all the choice fields that appear before the New Page element in the form file. Choose the source field that you want to include in the navigation rule.

            Conditions
            The Conditions section lists all the values available for the source field you select from the Unless pop-up menu. Select a value from t the pop-up menu on the left; select the target page from the pop-up menu on the right. Click the plus sign to add more conditions. Adobe FormsCentral warns you if a condition conflicts with another condition you've set.

          6. Click OK.

          View full size graphic
          A.
          Source field

          B.
          Source field options

          C.
          Navigation rule

          D.
          Target pages

          Edit conditional branching rules

          New Page elements for which branching is defined, have a branching icon to the left of the field. To edit conditional branching rules, click the branching icon or click Edit in the Field Properties panel. The Edit link is available only for authors (paid subscribers) and co-authors (both free and paid subscribers).

          Note: For collaborators and readers, a View link appears in the Field Properties panel. Collaborators and readers have limited access to the content in the Navigate To Page dialog box. They can see the rules defined in the Navigate To Page dialog box, but cannot modify or create rules.

          If more than one user edits the form file simultaneously, it's possible that navigational rules can be broken. For example, a rule can be broken if you delete a field that is part of a navigation rule. Or, it can break if you delete a New Page element with navigation rules. Adobe FormsCentral notifies you that a navigation rule has become invalid.

          Remove conditional branching

          To remove a single condition from the navigation rule, click the trash can icon to the right of the condition. To remove the entire navigation rule, deselect Navigate To Page in the Field Properties dialog box.

          Create a fillable PDF form

          Paid subscribers can turn their Adobe FormsCentral forms into fillable PDF forms. You can also create free, unlimited fillable PDF forms with the Adobe FormsCentral desktop app included with Adobe Acrobat XI Pro. Your respondents can fill out the form locally as time permits, and then submit it when they are back online. Using fillable PDF forms also allows your respondents to save a copy of the form that they submit. Anyone with the free Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat can fill out a PDF form created with Adobe FormsCentral.

          If your form is online, you can see how it will look as a PDF by choosing Page View from the pop-up menu in the lower-right corner. Adobe FormsCentral inserts PDF page breaks based on the selected page size. (You can also insert custom page breaks by adding a New Page form element.) These page breaks are specific to the fillable PDF form, and are independent of any page breaks you inserted in the web view.To save a form as a PDF form in either the Adobe FormsCentral online service or desktop app, choose File > Save As PDF Form when the form is open on the Design Tab.
          Note: Several form features aren’t supported in fillable PDF forms. Adobe FormsCentral doesn’t support page and question skip logic, redirect URLs, payment processing, or attachment fields in PDF forms. When you create locally stored forms using the Adobe FormsCentral desktop app, these features are disabled.

            Define the PDF page size and orientation

            The default page size and orientation or a PDF form are letter and portrait, respectively. You can change the page size and orientation by choosing File > Form Setup on the Design tab. Choose the PDF Paper Size and Orientation, and then click OK.

            Share your form

            After you've completed your form, you can share it by clicking Share in the lower-left corner. (If you’re using the Adobe FormsCentral desktop app, it’s necessary to sign in to an Adobe FormsCentral account and move your forms online to share them.)

            Note: Sharing a form is not the same as distributing it to collect responses. When you share a form, you allow others to view or interact with the form file (depending on the user role that you grant them).
            Distribute
            Click Distribute to copy the link for the fillable form to the clipboard. Then send it to others via email or post it on your website.

            Add collaborators
            Click this option to share the form file with one or more people. Enter the email addresses of the people you want to share it with in the Share <form name> dialog box. Choose whether they are Co-Authors, Contributors, or Readers from the Make Them pop-up menu. Optionally edit the default subject line and add a personal message, and then click Share.
            Note: The people you add as collaborators need an Adobe FormsCentral account to view the form file and its responses.

            Publish responses
            Click Publish if you want the View Responses tab, the Summary Reports tab, or both, visible to anybody who has a link to the form file. You don’t have to sign in to Adobe FormsCentral or have an Adobe FormsCentral account to view a published form file. When you publish a file, you can copy a link or the embed code for the file. Then, you can embed the file on a web page.
            Copy a link or the embed code for the response table in a published file in the Published dialog box.
            Click Change Options in the Share dialog box to set Re-sharing options:

            • Everyone the file is shared with can share it with others (at their own user role or lower).

            • Only let Co-authors share this file with others.