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jdhebert
New Participant
March 6, 2020
Question

Need to create a fillable form - to fill other forms...

  • March 6, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 466 views

I'm currently using excel to enter data (23 fields), and a series of macros and buttons to push that data into adobe fillable forms. This is all in an attempt to make it easier for all users in my department to have one format to enter data that can be placed on any one of 30 or so forms that are needed for different organizations. These forms all contain very similar information, but the information is located in a different spot on every form, so being able to enter it into one template is very helpful.

 

I'm currently having an issue with tab order in Adobe, it is occasionally failing (NOT tabbing in the manual tab order I've set for the document). Since I haven't been able to find a resolution for this, I was wondering if we could take Excel out of the equation, and have it all done in Adobe.

 

Bottom line: Is it possible to create a form in Adobe that could be filled, then used to fill OTHER PDF forms (preferably in one action, without having to save the data on the form). I'd like to be able to fill a PDF form, tell it to push that information into the pre-set fields on ANOTHER form, then print that form.

 

Is this too unrealistic of an expectation? It currently works from Excel to PDF, the only issue being that I'm running into an issue (KNOWN issue), involving manual tab order not functioning correctly in PDF files.

 

Any help from the community would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

 

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    1 reply

    try67
    Community Expert
    try67Community Expert
    Community Expert
    March 6, 2020

    Yes, that's possible, but it will require the development of a custom-made script to save the data in memory and then load it in the other file(s). However, this will only work if the fields in all files are named the same. If not, the code will have to a have a mapping for each file and it will become a mess.

    J
    jdhebertAuthor
    New Participant
    March 9, 2020
     
     
     
     

    Gotcha. I'm pretty new to all of this, and have never written a script like this. Are you aware of any resources that would help point me in the right direction, specifically the creation of a script that can open/populate new documents? I could definitely name them all the same, that seems like the cleanest way to do it.

    try67
    Community Expert
    try67Community Expert
    Community Expert
    March 9, 2020

    Here are some good resources:

    General JS tutorial (note that only the core syntax applies to Acrobat): http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp
    Homepage for Acrobat JavaScript development, including a link to the full API: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat.html
    Free tutorials about Acrobat in general, including many JS related ones: https://acrobatusers.com/tutorials/
    A paid-for website with tutorials about Acrobat JavaScript (not related to me): http://www.pdfscripting.com/
    My humble web-site with many tools for Acrobat (mostly paid-for, some free): http://try67.blogspot.com

     

    If you're interested in hiring someone to do it for you feel free to contact me privately via [try6767 at gmail.com].

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