Skip to main content
J
Jen Coken
Participant
April 7, 2021
Answered

Prepare Form Not Creating All Form Fields

  • April 7, 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 4948 views

When I prepare a PDF as a form, only a few of the fields that need to be created as fillable get created.  I then have to do them by hand, which defeats the purpose of using the Prepare Form function.  Please help!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer jnix612

I know this is an old post, but I feel I need to share how I can convert most of my fields using the Prepare Form. My current project has 80 fields. So I definitely needed a PDF to prepare the form using all the fields I created in MS Word.

My best practices:

  • I use MS Word to format.
  • I don't shade the shapes or tables.
    • This is the key. I had some fields shaded, and others not. PDF did not pick up any of the shaded fields. Once I removed the shading, the PDF converted every single field.
  • The border for shapes and/or tables is always a light gray solid line (color does not matter).
    • Important: The PDF prepare form reads horizontal lines. Make sure to use lines (I simply add a border to ensure perfect alignment of my PDF boxes).
  • If you're using a circle in MS Word (radio button in PDF) or a square for the check mark and it doesn't convert, try increasing the shape size by one.

I hope this helps.

3 replies

jnix612
jnix612Correct answer
Inspiring
May 1, 2024

I know this is an old post, but I feel I need to share how I can convert most of my fields using the Prepare Form. My current project has 80 fields. So I definitely needed a PDF to prepare the form using all the fields I created in MS Word.

My best practices:

  • I use MS Word to format.
  • I don't shade the shapes or tables.
    • This is the key. I had some fields shaded, and others not. PDF did not pick up any of the shaded fields. Once I removed the shading, the PDF converted every single field.
  • The border for shapes and/or tables is always a light gray solid line (color does not matter).
    • Important: The PDF prepare form reads horizontal lines. Make sure to use lines (I simply add a border to ensure perfect alignment of my PDF boxes).
  • If you're using a circle in MS Word (radio button in PDF) or a square for the check mark and it doesn't convert, try increasing the shape size by one.

I hope this helps.

    try67
    Community Expert
    try67Community Expert
    Community Expert
    April 7, 2021

    There's no easy solution to this issue. The form fields wizard does a decent job (usually), but never perfect. You will always have to manually add missing fields, remove fields that shouldn't be there, and adjust others. It can be a lot of work.


    The only other way of creating fields consistently is to use a script, but that has to have something to base the detection of the fields on, such as special characters. I've developed a couple of (paid-for) tools that will convert such characters to fields with 100% accuracy. One script will convert certain Wingdings characters to check-boxes or radio-buttons, and another will convert sequences of underscores to text fields. You can find them here:

    https://www.try67.com/tool/acrobat-reader-convert-wingdings-characters-to-check-boxes-or-radio-buttons

    https://www.try67.com/tool/acrobat-reader-convert-underscores-to-text-fields

     

    Bernd Alheit
    Community Expert
    Bernd AlheitCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 7, 2021

    The detection of fields is not perfect.

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices