Help with making a drop down list to autofill in text boxes with a preset data based on selection.

Report · Jan 26, 2016

Hello,

I am trying to create a form in Adobe Pro to have a drop down list that will fill data in other text fields with a preset text based on the selection in the drop box. There would be multiple of the drop down and the text fields will follow each one. I already have the data in a Excel Spreadsheet but I want compress it to one selectable field and then the other would fill in the data automatically and all the data in the textboxes would be a constant. There is over 110 items that go into the dropdown so anything to make this easier to do would be greatly appreciated For example:

Here would be the list where they would make a Selection (IE Item1, Item2, ETC.)	Here would be a part number.	Here would be a description of the Item and could be a long description of the item.	Here would be the page number where the item could be found.	Here would be the price
Dropdown1	Textboxpn1	Textboxde1	Textboxpg1	Textboxpr1
Dropdown2	Textboxpn2	Textboxde2	Textboxpg2	Textboxpr2

Any help in the matter to matter would be greatly appreciated. And if there is anything that needs further explanation just let me know. Thank you in advance.

Report · Jan 27, 2016

This requires using a script. This tutorial explain how to do it, but it involves converting your entire spreadsheet into code, which is quite cumbersome:

https://acrobatusers.com/tutorials/change_another_field

One alternative to that approach is to use a more advanced script that will be able to read the data from the spreadsheet directly (after it's converted to a plain-text file and attached to the PDF), which is more dynamic (ie, you can just update the spreadsheet and the script will pick up the changes without having to edit the code at all), easier to maintain and to use. I've developed such a product and it can be purchased from here: Custom-made Adobe Scripts: Acrobat -- Populate Fields From Dropdown