Difference between a submit button and just sending an email?

[carole_at_jcu]

I'm creating an application form to be used in a university setting. The completed pdf forms, which will include attachments, should go to my email inbox.  When I tested the SUBMIT button, there are several steps required before the file is actually sent. The user has to save the file, then choose a webmail account, then they log into their account by giving username and password, they have to give Adobe permissions to access the webmail account, the draft email is created, then the user pushes SEND to send the email to my inbox.  Here's my question: how is this easier than asking the applicant to complete the form, save it, and then email it to me as an attachment? Am I missing something? I tested it out both ways, and both the attachments and the digital signature came through fine. Most users in this university have gmail accounts and will use Chrome. Thank you in advance.

C. Krus

John Carroll University

Cleveland, Ohio

[Test Screen Name]

Submit by email is in my opinion just a toy for testing. It’s way too unreliable for any serious use where the loss of submissions is not to be tolerated. A submit button should go to a web script just as a web page submit would. Yes, it needs a professional web programmer to set up the web script.

[carole_at_jcu]

Thank you so much for your reply! I understand your point about the unreliable nature of submission via email attachments, but in our case, it's actually an upgrade. We are moving from a paper-only application form to a PDF. Plus, the email address for submission is <irb@jcu.edu>. I have confidence that nearly all users can type that without error!

However, I am curious about the web script suggestion. Yes, I will need help, but I will look into this for our second-phase upgrade.

I am grateful that you took the time to help me!

[try67]

With the latter you have to trust them to enter the correct email address, subject line, etc. With the former you can automate all of that, and sometimes you want the address to be dependent on the selected value of a field, or on something else. Also, with a Submit button you can validate that all the required fields are filled-in before the file can be sent. You can't do that if they just decide to create an email and attach the file to it.

And I disagree with the opinion mentioned above that submitting by email is a "toy". It's a very commonly used and trusted method of transferring files. Unfortunately, some PDF viewers out there have ruined the reliability of this method by poorly implementing it, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have its merits...

[carole_at_jcu]

Thank you for pointing out that with the Submit button, I can validate that all fields are properly filled in. I didn't think of that, and I will take it into consideration. I appreciate your help!

[Thom Parker]

Here is an article on the topic:

https://acrobatusers.com/tutorials/form-submit-e-mail-demystified

[carole_at_jcu]

Thank you all for your replies! It looks like setting up a web server is not feasible for our office. We have neither the expertise nor the budget to make that happen, so we will settle for email submission method.

So other than the point made by try67 (that the submit button allows me to validate that all required fields are properly completed), are there other differences between using a submit (via email) button and asking the user to send me an email with their completed form attached?

[Thom Parker]

Asking the user to email the completed form is the easiest solution, and other than the advantages of validation and convenience for the user the "email submit" is problematic because, as pointed out in the article, the email submit depends on the user having a local email client.  So unless you know the environment being used (users in the office for example) it might not work.

Have you tried the Acrobat "Form Distribution" workflow? It's free and built into Acrobat. It uses the Adobe servers to you don't have to support anything. And it compiles the data into a spreadsheet.