Creating a form template in acrobat

[nippaz]

How can I create a form template in Acrobat.

I understand that I should name all fillable fields, but at the same time how do I make it dynamic in size?

I would ultimately like to fill this form template out using an excel sheet.

Many thanks for the help, tips and direction towards my goal.

[S. S]

Hi @nippaz,

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for writing in about how to create form templates.

We have a highly descriptive article about creating and using document templates.

Please give this a read: https://adobe.ly/4dz7ogn.

Let us know if this helps.

Regards,
Souvik.

[Thom Parker]

What exactly do you mean by a form template?  Do you mean just a standard PDF form that can be filled out? Or something else?

PDFs are not dynamic in the sense that page text can't be moved or reflowed to make room for other objects, such as new form fields.  But there are options. For example, if you have a form with a table of fields, and there is a need to add extra lines to the table, then the solution is to create a "Page Template" that is a single page of the table lines. So the dynamic part is adding a whole page of extra table lines, not adding single lines that grow the original table. This model is the same one used for paper forms, which is the whole point behind PDF (it's electronic paper).

[nippaz]

@S. S  Thank you for that link, I'll take a good hard look at that.

@Thom ParkerI have these labels I frequently have to fill out.  I've created a template in Excel and it was somewhat working for me in having these labels printed out.  But across different machines the output of the excel --> labels changes.  I then read PDF's are always the same format across machines.

So I'm researching on how to make basically a PDF with fillable fields so it doesn't change across machines.  The number of fields is never the same and is never set hence I was trying to make it dynamic in size.

Hope this clarifies it, thank you both.

[Thom Parker]

A sample (screenshot) wold be helpful, but, since a label is a limited area, there are things that can be done to make it dynamic.  Basically the PDF page has to be built with dynamic elements, i.e., form fields and drawing annotations.  And dynamic behavior requires a lot of custom scripting. 

I'd start by separating out the static bits from the ones that need to be dynamic. Then make a Word doc with the static bits and convert it to PDF.  This is the starting point. Then add drawing annotation and form fields to build out the rest. 

For example, if the label has a border, then use a rectangle annotation. 

Add controls on the same page for setting the dynamic features, such as the number of lines that are needed. Put them outside of the label area. And include text in the word file for these controls.   

You can probably see that this is not a trivial task.  I can provide (for a fee) training and consulting if you need it. 

[nippaz]

@Thom Parker 

I have fields that are populated from an Excel sheet.  Number of actual labels needs to be dynamic in the sense that some days it'll be 15 labels and some days it'll be 96 labels

Attached is a screen shot, excuse the grid lines

[Thom Parker]

As I said before, there are things that can be done. But the screen shot wasn't helpful.   It just looks like a bunch of random text to me. What's static and what's dynamic?  Is that one label, or a page of labels. 

Typically when someone is printing out labels, they are the same label, or the same layout with a different name on it. Something like that. What exactly are your labels?  

[nippaz]

@Thom Parker 

Hey Thom, here is the actual full sheet.  This is 4 labels.  Each block of text is a field.

[Thom Parker]

By block, do you mean that each text item inside the grid lines is a separate lablel?  

This looks pretty irregular. Some cells are the same size and have the same text and some are different. 

It looks to me as if there is no static text. Ok, so will the next page and the next all have different text? 

You know, we can't read minds. Looks like you have a somewhat complex setup. You have to be clear about what you want to do, and complete.  For example, will the same page be repeated? will all pages be different? How is the text data imported from Excel?  Is the layout the same for every page?

Acrobat does not have an automatic way to dynamically generate new pages or fields based on import data. This type of thing requires custom scripting.  Do you have programming skills? It's not necessarily a complex project, but it does require some work.  You may need to hire someone. 

[nippaz]

@thom

The Green Box is a single label, thus there would be 4 sticker lables per 8.5" x 11"

The red boxes are the individual fields I would like to have filled out (PDF fields) from an excel sheet.

[Thom Parker]

The simplest thing to do is to make a page template out of this page.  Add a cover sheet to the PDF, i.e. a first page, and make the template page hidden. 

The Acrobat JS model cannot read an excel file directly, so there are two ways to go.

1)  Save the data from Excel as a text file, CSV or Tab Separated.  Then write an Acrobat script to load and parse the data. Create enough pages to hold the data, and then transfer the data to the fields. 

2)  Write an Excel Add-in to open the PDF, create the pages, and then transfer the data. 

Either solution requires some programming skills. Did you want to learn how to do this or get someone else to do it for you?

Here's a screen shot that shows how to create a page template.  

[nippaz]

@Thom Parker 

Thank you...Ideally I would like to learn how to do it myself.  If you would kindly point me in that direction please.  What scripting language would I need to learn?

If not, who would I contact/contract to do this and how much would you think is a fair price for this?

Thank you

[try67]

If Thom is unavailable to work on this, I'm happy to do it for you, for a fair (I believe) fee.

Feel free to contact me privately by clicking my user-name and then on the blue "Message" button.

[Thom Parker]

Acrobat is scripted with JavaScript. For a programming language it's an easy one learn, but it's still a full programming language. For the Acrobat part you'll need the Acrobat JavaScript Model. 

You can start learning here: www.pdfscripting.com

Watch some of the free videos first, starting with the basics:

https://www.pdfscripting.com/public/Free_Videos.cfm#JSIntro

 Please send me a message through this forum. I've been teaching Acrobat JavaScript for over 20 years.