Fillable PDF with placeholders (or something??)

[CT234]

I'm designing a PDF form template for a client, but I need them to be able to edit their business name. The idea is that they'll give this form to their client on an iPad or in an email or something so their client can fill it out digitally. But I need my client to be able to add her own business name to the PDF before handing it off to her clients. And it needs to not be editable when her clients are filling out the form (so I don't think an additional form field will work - at the minimum, it has to not show the blue box... that would work if possible).

I know I can do all of this in InDesign and just give her the fully editable document; but I would prefer to keep it all as a PDF if possible. I've been trying to figure out if there is a way to add placeholders in addition to form fields, but no such luck. My only idea is to lock the field for her name, but it's going to look pretty unprofessional to have her business name typed into another blue box when the client has the form. I also can't just add their business info, they would need to be able to edit it on their own. I would prefer both business name and logo, but business name is most important. Any ideas?

[try67]

You need to use form fields for all the user input, yes.

You can add a (hidden) button to set the first set of fields as read-only, so they don't appear with the blue box when opened by someone else. The code to do it is simple:

this.getField("Business Name").readonly = true;

[CT234]

Thank you so much!! This actually may work really well for us. So, just to confirm, I would have to build the form then tell my client how and where to add the code after she adds her business name? And in the "Business Name" part of the code, this is the field title, correct?

[try67]

Correct. And yes, the field's name needs to go in the quotes after getField.

You can of course duplicate this line as many times you need, to set multiple fields as read-only.