Batch Rename Fields in PDF - Script/Excel/Etc?

[Speez]

First off, very new to generating anything other than a very basic form. I am attempting to create some timecard and daily report forms (construction company) that I will import into one of our mobile software packages (plangrid) for use by the crews.

The time cards are built in excel, and on each 9-10 person timecard we record the Regular Time, Overtime, and Double Time hours for up to 10 codes. As you can see, that's 300 fields to name, not including other data on the sheet (employee first name and last name, employee ID, signature, date, shift, etc). I have formatted the timecard in excel "perfectly" and all the fields are clearly boxed, but when dumping into the form wizard it only captures about 70% of the fields and it is very sporadic (one employee had all 30 time entry fields captured, others had every other field, some had none, etc). Also the names are not perfect.

I would like to figure out how to either setup of a script or maybe export the data in excel, manipulate, and then reimport to batch rename the field names. In general, on the x-axis there are 10 columns (one for each time code) and then on the y-axis, there are 10 employees with 3 rows each (Reg, OT, DT) so 30 rows. The number of hours goes into this grid, and I would probably like something along the lines of "Employee1Code1Reg", Employee1Code1OT", Employee1Code1DT", etc etc. Every 3 lines the Reg, OT, DT recycles, every 3 lines you would sequentially shift from Employee1 to Employee2, etc, and then for each column it would shift from Code1, to Code2, etc.

Is there any way to do this in a programmatic way, short of just manually renaming each field? It's doable, just very tedious, and I would also like to establish a process for future large field projects if it is possible. Also, for the time being this must be a basic form and not LiveCycle/XFA as that is not supported in the mobile program we are using (yet).

Thanks,

[try67 · Accepted solution]

A script in Acrobat can't rename fields. The way to do it is to delete the old ones and then create new ones in their place, with the new names. The problem with doing that is that it removes all the Validation/Format/Calculation/Keystroke/etc. settings associated with them.

I've developed several tools (including stand-alone ones that don't have this issue) to facilitate renaming form fields in PDF files.
You can find them here: Custom-made Adobe Scripts: Easily Rename PDF Fields

[SHAFQAT5E5E]

This is a godsend piece of software you built.  Thank you so much.  It has saved me hours and hours of time.

[try67]

Glad to hear it!