Adobe Acrobat XI - Manual (Page 255)

248
Forms
Last updated 1/14/2015
2 Do one of the following:
• Click Add New Field, and then select the type of form field you want to add.
• Choose a form field from the Quick Access toolbar.
• Right-click the page and select a tool.
Your cursor becomes a crosshair, and displays a preview of the field.
3 On the page, click where you want to add the field to create a field with the default size. To create a field using a
custom size, drag a rectangle to define the size of the field.
4 In the Field Name box, type the name of the field and specify if you want the field to be a required field. Choose a
name that is relevant and descriptive to make organizing and collecting the data easier.
5 To display the Properties dialog box and modify any other field properties, click All Properties.
Note: If you have selected the Keep Tool Selected option in the forms toolbar (visible in the form editing mode), the Field
Name box doesn’t appear after adding a field. Each time you click the page, a new field is added to the form. To exit this
mode, press the Esc key or click the Select Object Tool button . To modify the properties of the field, double-click the
field.
6 To test your form, click the Preview button on the toolbar. Previewing a form allows you to view the form the same
way the form recipients will and gives you a chance to verify the form. If you are previewing a form, you can click
the Edit button to go back to the edit mode.
7 When your form is complete, click Close Form Editing.
Lay out form fields on a grid
You can use grids to help position form fields precisely on a page. You can define the grid spacing, color, and position.
You can also choose whether to have the boundaries of a form field snap to grid lines when you’re editing the form field.
Grid lines don’t print.
Choose View > Show/Hide > Rulers & Grids > Grid.
1 To make form fields snap to the nearest grid lines when you create or move them, choose View > Show/Hide > Rulers
& Grids > Snap To Grid.
Copy a form field
You can create copies of a form field on a single page of a PDF form. You can also copy a form field and paste it onto
other pages. When you create duplicate form fields, replicas of the original field are added to one or more other pages.
The duplicate fields are always in the same position on each page as the original. Both copies and duplicates can be
dragged to different locations on a page, but not from one page to another. Using the
Both copies and duplicates are created with the same basic name as the original form field. Copies and duplicates pasted
using the Duplicate Across Pages command also have a number appended. All form fields with the same basic name
share the same user data and action properties. Consequently, when a user adds or edits a response to a copy or
duplicate field, the response appears in all fields with the same basic name.
If you change the properties of any one of multiple versions of a form field with the same basic name, those changes
affect only that copy of the form field. The exception is when you change an Actions listing if the trigger isn’t a mouse
action.
To prevent a duplicate or copied form field from reacting in unison with the original field, change the name of the new
form field.