Which program do you design documents that include form fields?

Report · May 03, 2016

I am learning that creating documents from scratch in Acrobat DC has challenges such as text pagination. I like LiveCycle but it requires reader extensions which is too expensive for small business.

I would like to hear from everyone: Which program do you prefer to design documents from scratch that include form fields?

Report · May 03, 2016

Forms created in LiveCycle Designer are not required to be enabled by LiveCycle Reader Extensions. As I said in another one of your posts, you can enabled XFA forms with Acrobat, and if you use Acrobat DC, there aren't the same licensing restrictions as there were with previous versions of Acrobat.

I use InDesign almost exclusively. It allows you to include interactive form fields, but there are a number of bugs and non-standard behavior with the fields when the form is exported to PDF. It's also difficult to update a form if you need edit the fields in Acrobat after exporting from InDesign, which you usually need to do since you can't set all of the field properties and actions in InDesign.

Report · May 03, 2016

Thanks for your replies George.

Personally I prefer designing in LiveCycle but the folks in Adobe Support in India do not know how to make the LiveCycle designed form submit to an email address. They say I must use Reader Extensions. They suggested to use Adobe Acrobat DC so then I went back to use it but ran into the text pagination issues.

I have looked at the tutorials but evidently I am missing something.

I am going to look into designing the documents in good ol Microsoft Word hoping their documents and form fields will look clean after running them through Acrobat DC.

I also considered inDesign but I had read about some buggy problems and that designing forms is clunky since inDesign was not created to design forms.

I think what I really need is to go find a PDF ninja guru on elance or something like that and pay some $ so they can help me figure out which product will be the best for my project. My project is fairly simple. I have been hired by a home health care company to produce their legacy paper forms into digital PDF. Forms need digital signature and be able to submit them with one click from the form to a HIPAA compliant onedrive.

Report · May 03, 2016

I should add that I spoke to Adobe sales a dozen or so times and they do not recommend products. They were kind enough to send me to support in India but those people who I am sure mean well are not trained very well and do not know the products well enough to make any recommendations.

Report · May 03, 2016

A form created in LiveCycle Designer can submit to an email address, and you can enable such a form with Acrobat so that it works in Reader. Forms created in Acrobat should also be Reader-enabled since some users may be using Reader versions prior to 11 (XI).

InDesign is great for creating the base form that you can then add form fields to in Acrobat.

Report · May 03, 2016

"A form created in LiveCycle Designer can submit to an email address, and you can enable such a form with Acrobat so that it works in Reader. "

George, Adobe support in India has told me NO this cannot be done without reader extensions. If you know otherwise, can you point me to a video tutorial, step by step, or something that shows me how to do it?

Report · May 03, 2016

Whoever told you that is simply wrong. Exactly how you Reader-enable a document with Acrobat depends on which version of Acrobat you're using. Here's a previous discussion that has the details: Where is located "Advanced/extended features in Adobe Reader" in Acrobat XI?

It's the same in Acrobat DC as it is in Acrobat 11 (XI).

Report · May 03, 2016

yes I tried that. But when I fill out the fields in reader and then submit the form via email, the attached PDF's form fields are blank. Thanks for trying to help. Without a tutorial or knowledgeable phone support staff, it remains a frustrating mess.

Report · May 04, 2016

That's not the way it has to be. I'd advise you to find out why that's happening and ask for help in the LiveCycle Designer forum here.