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randyr82722668
randyr82722668
Participant
January 8, 2018
Answered

Importing Data into PDF form

  • January 8, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 10295 views

Hello! I created a document that I would like to send to customers that has three fields that are specific to each customer. Instead of creating each pdf individually and manually typing the variable data, (there are thousands), I'm wondering if there is a way to import data from a spreadsheet into the three specific fields I created in the pdf form? I know you can extract data that customers entered, but can you populate data that way? Thanks in advance for the help!

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Correct answer Thom Parker

Originally I thought you might just a few customers, in this case it's not a problem to create individual FDF files for each. But if you have a thousand, well then, you'll need a more automated technique, such as first import method I described, or the Mail Merge tool mentioned by Try.

There are several variations on this tool, one that Acrobat installs into Outlook when it is installed. These tools are designed to fill out the entire form and mail it out, like you would a form letter or statement. Hence the name Mail Merge. 

I've also created several tools of this sort, one which provides the user with a drop down menu (on the Acrobat toolbar) of customers.  The idea of this tool is that you're not filling in the whole form, just some pre-set data such as custom  name and address. Which sound more like what you are after.

Here's some more info:

https://www.pdfscripting.com/public/ExcelAndAcrobat.cfm

1 reply

Thom Parker
Community Expert
Thom ParkerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 8, 2018

Yes, there are a several different ways to do this, most of them involve scripting. But there a couple of manual methods that are suitable for handling a small number of options.

1.  Export the data from the excel spread sheet as a "Tab Separated File" with a .txt format. The column names in this file must match the fields names verbatim.  Now, open your PDF in Acrobat Professional and start the "Prepare Form" mode. There is a drop down menu in the right side panel, on this menu is an "Import Data" option. Select this and then select ".txt" from the file open dialog. Acrobat will then ask you which line in the file to import the data from.

2.  Fill out the fields of interest (and only these fields) in your form for a single customer. Then in Acrobat Pro/Standard use the "Export Data" option in the "Prepare Form" mode to save the data as an ".fdf" file. Do this for each customer. Now you can import the data back into the PDF by simply double clicking on FDF file.  Acrobat will automatically open the form in Acrobat and import the data.

Thom Parker - Software Developer at PDFScriptingUse the Acrobat JavaScript Reference early and often
randyr82722668
randyr82722668Author
Participant
January 9, 2018

This helped but I am confused about the "Do this for each customer." comment. My data has only three custom fields, and each of these fields are different for each customer. My import file has about 1000 line entries (customers) with these three fields. Is there a way to import (and create) individual pdfs with the variable data and name the file by customer with one click or do I need to do it 1000 times?

Example:

School                                  Code                        Date

Elm St. Elementary               ELM44111               June 1, 2018

CherrySt. Elementary           CHE44155               May 15, 2018

etc... (1000 more times)

Thanks again for your help!

Thom Parker
Community Expert
Thom ParkerCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
January 9, 2018

Originally I thought you might just a few customers, in this case it's not a problem to create individual FDF files for each. But if you have a thousand, well then, you'll need a more automated technique, such as first import method I described, or the Mail Merge tool mentioned by Try.

There are several variations on this tool, one that Acrobat installs into Outlook when it is installed. These tools are designed to fill out the entire form and mail it out, like you would a form letter or statement. Hence the name Mail Merge. 

I've also created several tools of this sort, one which provides the user with a drop down menu (on the Acrobat toolbar) of customers.  The idea of this tool is that you're not filling in the whole form, just some pre-set data such as custom  name and address. Which sound more like what you are after.

Here's some more info:

https://www.pdfscripting.com/public/ExcelAndAcrobat.cfm

Thom Parker - Software Developer at PDFScriptingUse the Acrobat JavaScript Reference early and often
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