Defining Roles on a Fillable PDF

[mcwade]

I have Acrobat Pro DC and have had it for 48 hours.  After 10 years of my organization promising it to me, I now have it for a COVID emergency project.  We have about 40-50 permit applications.  I have the original work documents and flat PDFs.

We need these all converted to fillable PDFs by yesterday.  

I need to restrict access to input options by Applicant and by Staff.  I have looked at the Sender and Signer roles and have assigned these roles to certain fields.  It does not seem to have any impact on who can fill out what fields.

Am I missing something in the process or expecting too much?

Any help is greatly appreciated since I am a newbie and have a ton of work to do by yesterday.

[try67]

The link to the file doesn't work, for some reason, but are you using Adobe Sign for this?

[mcwade]

here is the link to the current application

https://www.birminghamal.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/PEPPERAPP_Building103019.pdf

I may not be using Adobe Sign, not sure?  I have set fields up with a role and it set the signature field.  

When I Prepare Form on Flat PDF, I checked this document requires signatures.  

I just found the Adobe Sign Tool.  It is asking for recipient emails.    These PDFs I am working on will be displayed on a City Web Page for public use and will not be emailed out individually.  

Can I restrict fields without Adobe Sign?  

[try67]

If you ticked that box then you're using Adobe Sign.

It is possible to restrict access to fields, yes, but it's far from a secure solution.

One way is to hide them or set them as read-only until a password is entered by the user, for example.

[mcwade]

If I can set a password on the staff only fields, that would be a very workable solution.  How is this done?  I appreciate the help, trying to get one form out today so users can test and give feedback.

[Thom Parker]

The file at the link does not have any form fields. 

You can restrict field access with Adobe sign, but only when the form is used in the Adobe Sign process, i.e. when you "Send for Signatures", or if the user accesses the form an Adobe Sign repository. In the Adobe Sign process the PDF is just an image that is presented to the user on a web page. It's quite good for contracts and simple forms. Not for fully interactive PDF forms. 

There are other ways to restrict access to form fields in a PDF, but they are not secure, more of just a way to control workflow.  Contact me if you need help with the form.

[mcwade]

The link was the current file we are using.  Trying to make these fillable to prevent customers from coming in for permits. 

I just need to get it where applicant can no easily fill out staff fields and then have an option for staff when they receive the application by email.

[try67]

Set the fields as read-only and then run this code from a button field to make them editable:

if (app.response("Enter the password to unlock the Staff fields:", "", "")=="12345") {
this.getField("Staff1").readonly = false;
this.getField("Staff2").readonly = false;
this.getField("Staff3").readonly = false;
} else app.alert("Wrong password.");

The password in this case is "12345". You can adjust it, of course, and replace the field names I used with the real ones.

[mcwade]

I will try this, thanks so much!!!