Adobe® Acrobat® X PDF Bible

Chapter 30. Understanding Acrobat Form Tools

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Defining PDF forms

• Filling in PDF forms

• Understanding forms editing

• Creating PDF forms

• Setting field properties

• Managing fields

Adobe PDF forms can be created in Acrobat Standard (Windows) and Acrobat Pro using the form tools and many commands for creating a different kind of form. XML forms are created in Adobe Designer and Acrobat PDF forms are created in Acrobat (Standard or Pro). In some cases, an Acrobat PDF form might be preferred over an XML form. These two form types are distinctive in both the creation process and the intended use.

Before you delve into this chapter, realize that creating both Acrobat forms and Adobe LiveCycle Designer forms covers as much territory as the complete Adobe Acrobat X PDF Bible. As a matter of fact, I've written a book titled PDF Forms Using Adobe Acrobat and LiveCycle Designer Bible (Wiley Publishing 2009). That book equals the size of the Adobe Acrobat X PDF Bible. Therefore, all I can hope to do in this chapter is give you a brief introduction to creating PDF forms. No coverage for Adobe LiveCycle Designer appears in this book. To learn how to use LiveCycle Designer, look to the PDF Forms Using Adobe Acrobat and LiveCycle Designer Bible.

In this chapter, you learn how to use Form Edit Mode and create PDF forms in one of the Acrobat viewers, and find an introduction to using the different form tools. The good news is you can create PDF forms in Acrobat on either Windows or the Macintosh. ...