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twine29
twine29
Participant
June 22, 2017
Answered

Create a PDF form from scratch with Acrobat DC Pro?

  • June 22, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 11439 views

Hi, I am trialing Acrobat DC Pro and want to create a brand new form from scratch.

When I use the "Prepare Form" tool I only have the option to start from an exiting document or scan in a physical document. Since it is a new PDF I don't have either.

I tried to create a blank document to bypass this but there doesn't seem to be a text only field type option to add the static text to my form.

Thanks for the help in advance!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer gkaiseril

Acrobat is a very poor tool for editing.

You can create a blank page and save it as a named file.

Then close the Create Pdf tool.

Open the Edit PDF tool and add any context you want along with form field location indicators like lines.

Save the edited file.

Now open the Prepare From tool and then use the create form from your saved named file.

If you have not added any content and form lines or images you will get a message about no form fields found.

You can then add or edit form fields as needed.

Save the file when done.

I would prepare the context of the form in Word or InDesign and then add the form fields using Acrobat.

There are many tutorials about creating forms in Acrobat.

3 replies

JR Boulay
Community Expert
JR BoulayCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 23, 2017

This free plugin adds a "New" menu item in Acrobat Pro: https://www.abracadabrapdf.net/utilitaires/utilities-in-english/acrobat-utilities/abracadabratools_en/

(39 standard formats available)

Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe
    B
    Adobe Employee
    BhavnaNegi
    Adobe Employee
    June 23, 2017

    For easy option

    Open the blank PDF created via Create PDF app.

    Choose Tools > Prepare Form.

    You can create a form using the toolbar on top, containing form field tools for adding additional fields such as textfields, checkboxes and many more.

    Each of them can be customized from the respective field properties dialog, by double or right clicking on the field.

    Refer : https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/creating-distributing-pdf-forms.html.

    I hope this helps

    Regards

    Bhavna

      G
      gkaiseril
      Inspiring
      June 23, 2017

      Your approach has no field labels, so I guess you use form fields. Unfortunatly if the form is cieared so are the form labeld. It can be tricky to get all ofthese fields to line up. I guess there would be additional work needed to convert the fields being used as labels into PDF content using Acrobat JavaScript flattening process or setting the label value as the default value for the field and making the field read only so the casual user cannot change the value of the field. Both these methods make editing the labels more of a problem. And that is why I made the suggestion I did.

      By the way, if the context of the PDF form needs to be changed, this can easily be done editing the form in the source format and creating an updated PDF page without form fields and then using the Replace Pages to update the context layer of the PDF and not disturbing the form fields or any of the other possible JavaScript actions. Editing a PDF has improved greatly but still is not as powerful and accurate as using a true authoring program like Word or InDesign.

      If one were to use Apache OpenOffice Writer to create PDF form content and add field controls in OpenOffice Writer, one can export the entire form along with form fields to a PDF form. Then one only needs to add the calculation actions and button actions to the fields.

      In the link provided I do not see your approach mentioned.

      I still think it is better to create the form content in Word or InDesign and then add the fields with Acrobat.

        G
        gkaiserilCorrect answer
        Inspiring
        June 22, 2017

        Acrobat is a very poor tool for editing.

        You can create a blank page and save it as a named file.

        Then close the Create Pdf tool.

        Open the Edit PDF tool and add any context you want along with form field location indicators like lines.

        Save the edited file.

        Now open the Prepare From tool and then use the create form from your saved named file.

        If you have not added any content and form lines or images you will get a message about no form fields found.

        You can then add or edit form fields as needed.

        Save the file when done.

        I would prepare the context of the form in Word or InDesign and then add the form fields using Acrobat.

        There are many tutorials about creating forms in Acrobat.

          twine29
          twine29Author
          Participant
          June 27, 2017

          Thanks gkaiseril​!

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