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A
Anonymous
August 4, 2016
Question

Creating PDF Fillable Forms - positioning the fields and changing template Word forms

  • August 4, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 663 views

Hi All!

Apologies in advance as I'm super new to this software and forums etc. In the meantime, can anyone shed some light on creating fillable forms in Adobe Acrobat DC? I'm using a PC with Windows 7. I've also gone through the basic tutorials provided on the Adobe website which are helpful initially but now i need more detailed guidance.

Problem

I'm trying to create a fillable PDF form from scratch which means i've had to create the template in a Word doc first; then convert the form to a fillable PDF using the Form Wizard to detect the data fields automatically.

I then have to edit each field individually but I cant get them to sit neatly in the template text spaces I've created resulting in an overlapping and obscuring of the text when in preview mode.

I would like to be able to print out completed forms and give them to colleagues therefore, all the text needs to be clearly visible. It's super fiddly going through each field (text, drop down menus etc.) to squeeze them into the template spaces provided using the 'Positioning' tab in the Properties section.

Q1.  Is there a way I can get the field spaces to expand so that all the information is visible?

Q2. Is it possible to CHANGE THE TEMPLATE formatting whilst IN THE FORM WIZARD?

[If not, then it means I have to scrap the fillable form I'm working on, amend the original Word template and start all over again with inserting all the fields into the newly converted form, including re-positioning/formatting each field...there's got to be an easier way????...]

Also, on a general note, if anyone could point me in the direction of any other docs/tutorials/sites etc. that go into more detail on how to use the Form Wizard I'd be very grateful?

My thanks in advance for your help!

RollerChicky!!

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

G
George_Johnson
Inspiring
August 4, 2016

If you're not able to manually position the fields as you want, it may be that you have the snap to grid feature enabled. If you turn this off, you should be able to make the fields any size you want.

If you ever need to make changes to the Word doc and generate a new PDF, you don't have to start from scratch with the form fields. You can instead simply replace the old pages with the new in Acrobat. When you do this, all fields, links, bookmarks, JavaScript, etc. will be retained. Exactly how you replace pages depends on which version of Acrobat you're using. In Acrobat DC you'd select: Organize Pages > Replace

More info: Replace pages in a PDF | Adobe Acrobat DC tutorials

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