Have different fields auto fill based on selection from drop down menu

Forum|Forum|9 years ago
October 21, 2016
2 replies
1536 views

Hello everyone,

I have been tasked to research ways to create a PDF document that has a drop down menu and when one option is selected from the drop down menu, then multiple fields throughout the document would be auto filled based on the selection from the drop down menu and unfortunately, coding is not really my strong suit. Another thing that I'm not too sure about is that the employees of my institution are wanting to email the PDF document out to our customers and then have the customers fill out the PDF document and then send it back to the institution. So would anyone be able to provide some input on the best way to create the described PDF document that would also not be an issue with emailing out to customers? Honestly, I'm not sure on how the email providers would react to receiving a PDF doc with a lot of Javascripting, if they would even react to it at all. I appreciate any and all input.

Thanks,

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer cgcarpen

I answered by PM...

Hi try67,

I ran everything by my boss today but he was not interested in purchasing your scripts. So I did some more research via Google and I came across some instructions that I believe will work for what we want to do elsewhere on the web. Thanks again for offering your help, I appreciate it.

ignite_mike

Inspiring

Did you ever find a solution for this? I have the same challenge and really don't want to use custom scripts.

Thom Parker

Community Expert

The problem with this type of solution is that a script on the PDF requires knowledge of the PDF, so it is custom by definition. You can however create a more generic solution.

Data can be imported and exported to/from Acrobat with the import and export functions in Acrobat. Look them up in the tool search box in Acrobat DC. Simply fill-out and export every variation of the data you want auto-loaded with the selection. Then the user used the import command to select and import the data. This could also be automated with a Folder Level Script. And the solution could be expanded by putting it on a server and writing a server script to return the data, so the form could be auto-loaded from anywhere.

Thom Parker - Software Developer at PDFScriptingUse the Acrobat JavaScript Reference early and often

try67

Community Expert

It requires using a custom-made script. I've developed a tool that allows you to easily set it up in your file without having to actually write the code used to do it. All you need is a file that contains all of the data and the script does the rest for you. You can purchase it from here: Custom-made Adobe Scripts: Acrobat -- Populate Fields From Dropdown

C

cgcarpenAuthor

Participant

Awesome. Thank you for replying to this thread. I'm not able to view your blogspot page correctly due to my works security settings, so I do have a couple of questions.

How is the data for the drop-down field and all of the effected fields saved to the PDF? I would assume that the created PDF document would not have any issues being emailed out through different email providers? And lastly, do you only use PayPal if my boss was to want to purchase your script or do you accept other forms of payment? Just let me know if you don't want to answer any of these over the open forums and I will send you a PM.

Thanks!

try67

Community Expert

I answered by PM...

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