Need Help with Adobe Acrobat Ver 6.0

[Aeris Winterood]

I am trying to make pdf's, and so far I can. But what I really want to do is to be able to make pdf's that you can enter data into. I have downloaded some character sheets that you can input data into and they calculate stuff for you.

What I have are GM quick sheets that I converted to PDF for my pda... what I want them (the pdf's) be able to do is to be able to input data and be able to change it on the fly... Can anyone help me with how to do this? All help is appreciated. I will attach a copy of what I have and then maybe that will help you understand what I want. Thanks.

 

[wedgeski]

You'll need the full version of Adobe Acrobat, not just the PDF printer. Do you have that? If so all of the options you need should be available through the various menues.

 

[DaveStebbins]

I'm just going off things I believe I recall reading, so this may be in error.

I seem to recall that with Acrobat 6 you can create fillable forms, but users cannot save the filled-in forms unless they also have Acrobat. With the free Acrobat Reader they can fill-in and print the forms, but not save them.

I don't remember where I heard this. Perhaps a post in the PDF Publishers section of the Publishers and Press Releases forum would get a better response.

-Dave

 

[Alan Shutko]

I seem to recall that with Acrobat 6 you can create fillable forms, but users cannot save the filled-in forms unless they also have Acrobat. With the free Acrobat Reader they can fill-in and print the forms, but not save them.

Yes, that is correct.

However, with some javascript and a healthy dose of time, you would be able to create some pretty snazzy forms.

 

[Bobitron]

I seem to recall that with Acrobat 6 you can create fillable forms, but users cannot save the filled-in forms unless they also have Acrobat. With the free Acrobat Reader they can fill-in and print the forms, but not save them.

That's accurate. If the creator uses the full version to make a great fillable form and spreads it to his group, they will not be able to save the file with the changes. Therefore, one could type out everything, but the info is lost as soon as the file is closed.

 

[Aeris Winterood]

I do have the full version of Adobe. Fillable versions. Ok, I see, thanks alot for the help. I will play with it and see if I can get it to work.

 

[Marius Delphus]

In Acrobat Pro 6, the form tools are available from the Tools > Advanced Editing > Forms submenu, or you might want to turn on the Advanced Editing and/or Forms toolbars. Consider turning on and snapping to the document grid to make laying out form fields easier (you can configure the grid to match up with the blanks on the sheet if it measures out evenly; I got a fairly decent match on your lines with 11 gridlines per inch and a vertical offset of .16"). Don't neglect the Properties; if you want a predictable "look" in the filled-in fields, you need to make sure they're all set to a uniform text size, at least, instead of the default "Auto" (experiment with Shift-click and click-drag to select multiple form fields, to save time by setting lots of properties at once).

It's true: typed form data cannot be saved in Acrobat Reader, unless the creator has Acrobat Pro 7 and makes it so the form *can* be saved in Reader (this *might* require Reader 7, but I'm not sure of it).

If your players are willing to invest in add-on programs for Reader, here are a couple programs to consider:

CutePDF Form Filler ($30): http://www.acrosoftware.com/Products/CutePDF/Filler.asp
PDFill Form Filler ($10): http://www.pdfill.com/

Having never used either, I can't personally vouch for them, but if they do what they claim to do you might have a solution here.

Depending on your needs, you might simply print the completed forms to another PDF (losing the form fields, but keeping the data). For anyone that doesn't have Acrobat Pro, this means installing a PDF Printer driver; make sure to print comments (look around for it in the Print... dialog):

pdf995 (free): http://www.pdf995.com/
primoPDF (free): http://www.primopdf.com/

Make sure you don't enable any security features before doing this; it might interfere with printing a PDF to a PDF. I've never used these drivers, so I'm not even sure if it'll work properly (and it's certainly inferior to retaining the form fields), but that's another way to go.

 

[Pasus Nauran]

It's true: typed form data cannot be saved in Acrobat Reader, unless the creator has Acrobat Pro 7 and makes it so the form *can* be saved in Reader (this *might* require Reader 7, but I'm not sure of it).

Actually, this isn't quite the case. PDF form data can only be saved along with the PDF itself if you use a commercial version of Acrobat (such as Acrobat Standard or Professional). The only way to allow PDF form data to be saved along with he PDF from within Reader, is to enable such rights using Adobe Document Server for Reader Extensions, which is an enterprise application which retails for quite a large price tag. There are several workarounds, which will allow exporting of form data to a FDF file, which can later be imported back into the form.