Prepare Forms for Run Form Field Recognition
One of the great new features in Acrobat 8 for forms designers is a command in Acrobat 8 Professional called Run Form Field Recognition. You simply open a PDF converted from just about any program and select Forms>Run Form Field Recognition. Acrobat then magically adds form fields to your PDF file. And it handles the field additions in an instant.
Run Form Field Recognition does a super job on simple forms and it recognizes most text fields, adds digital signature fields, and even creates comb fields. However, the Run Form Field Recognition feature in Acrobat isn’t perfect and often misses checkboxes and radio buttons and it really falls apart when trying to recognize fields on complex and graphically intense forms. Take Figure 1 as an example. When I run the menu command, no fields are recognized on this form.
Figure 1
Obscure field designs and those field locations that are not created with lines are often missed with the Run Form Field Recognition command. The way to work around this problem and get the most out of Run Form Field Recognition is to create two forms. One form for using Run Form Field Recognition and one form that represents your final design layout. If you happen to be an Adobe Illustrator or Adobe InDesign user, then you can create a single layered document in Illustrator or InDesign containing both the form you use for Run Form Field Recognition and the final layout.
In Figure 2 you can see a form I created in Adobe Illustrator and exported as PDF as a layered file. In Acrobat I turn off the layers I won’t need to use the Run Form Field Recognition command and you can see the temporary layer I created just for using the Run Form Field Recognition command. Note that you don’t need to turn off any layers. As a matter of fact Acrobat will recognize fields if all layers are turned off. I usually turn off the layers just as a matter of practice so I can clearly see the layout where I’m using Run Form Field Recognition.
Figure 2
After using Run Form Field Recognition and turning on my Background and permanent Fields layers you can see the fields that Run Form Field Recognition created in Figure 3. Again, it’s not perfect. The radio buttons and checkboxes were missed. But with a little polish with some field sizing, the creation of an extra layer in Illustrator was a fraction of the time that would be needed for me to manually create the text fields.
Figure 3
As a final step, I open the layers panel and select Flatten Layers as shown in Figure 4. Notice that the temporary fields layer is hidden. When you flatten layers in Acrobat all hidden layers are tossed.
Figure 4
To get ready for Acrobat 8 and Run Form Field Recognition, plan now on designing forms that optimize using the command to successfully populate your forms. With a little planning ahead of time, you’ll save much time when creating PDF forms.
Download this form and try it yourself when you upgrade to Acrobat 8. golfOrderFormLayered.pdf
ted
November 18th, 2006 at 5:51 pm
My question is about your original design in Illustrator . . .
did you use just the regular shape tools (cirlce/square/etc) to create the ‘fields’ of your original document?
I went to a seminar in Irvine yesterday, and the presenters stated that a form filed recognition could be run in Pro8 on even a scanned doc. I have tried this but it did not work (not that I expected it to be that easy).
Any tips?
Thank you for the great article,
Jon
November 29th, 2006 at 11:53 pm
Hi Jon,
I created the final design in Illustrator with the gradients on a background layer and the final form fields on a separate layer. I duplicated the form field boxes and sent the copies to another layer. I then deleted the tops, right and left sides of the rectangles. This only took a few minutes in Illustrator by using the Direct Selection tool and marqueeing the three sides in several rows. The trick is make the temp fields layer with lines instead of rectangles.
When working with scanned documents use the interpolated resolution of your scanner (about 1200 ppi) and set the color mode to grayscsale to anit-alias the type. After scanning, use the OCR text conversion in Acrobat to convert the bit maps to rich text. Then use Run Form Field Recognition.
ted
January 5th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
[…] The results aren’t perfect, but it’s a great time-saver. Often, for a simple form, you only have to do minor tweaking to get a useful form. Carl Young and Ted Padova have written tutorials on using the feature in the Adobe Acrobat User Community website. (Acrobat 8 Professional also has other new form features: There’s a Distribute Form wizard that lets you send a PDF form to a number of recipients by email, and makes it easy for them to return the forms to you. When returned, you can aggregate the returned forms, and even export the data to a spreadsheet or database.) […]
August 21st, 2007 at 7:42 am
Ted,
Read your article with interest but I still cannot get Acrobat to recognise form fields from Word. Even with a blank page containing only two items - one checkbox and one drop-down list a couple of lines below that- it only recognises the checkbox. I’m not savvy enough to use Illustrator or In Design and prefer to use Word as text changes are frequent. What do I need to do to get Acrobat to recognise the fields? This, after all, is THE SIMPLEST form possible!
Mike Toy
August 21st, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Hi Mike,
Using Run Form Field Recogition in Acrobat will recognize text fields, checkboxes, and signature fields. Word files are particularly good for using this command. You should have the text fields shown with lines (not boxes) to get the best results. Try creating such a form and let me know if you encounter aby problems. Also be sure to use Acrobat Pro 8.1. I find that Run Form Field Recogniztion works much better with the latest upgrade.
—ted
August 22nd, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Thanks Ted.
I fear I may be barking up the wrong tree. I use a lot of drop-down lists in Word which seem not to be recognised by the FFR. Thus maybe I need to create a from from scratch using Acrobat.? Not as verastile (or as easy!) maybe I need to invest in one of your books!
When I do create a list box in Acrobat the list does not drop-down as you click it but rather one item is diplayed at a time. Thus you cannot see all the items in the list at once. Is this normal or am I (more than likely) doing something wrong?
Thanks again,
MIKE TOY
August 22nd, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Hi Mike,
No you don’t need a book for this one. Let me help you out.
Form fields in Acrobat have two different form tools used to create lists. One is the List Box tool which you are using now. Yes, the display is intentional to show a scrollable list. You might use the List Box tool to add a number of items where a drop down menu might fall below a page in Acrobat. You have some options with list boxes such as the ability to let a user make more than one selection -something like selecting a number of one’s hobbies.
The other form tool that uses lists and perhaps the one you’re looking for is the Combo Box. This tool creates a drop-down list. When a user makes a choice from a Combo Box, the user is limited to only one selection.
Best of luck,
ted
October 29th, 2007 at 10:18 am
I attended the conference in Council Bluffs but failed to write down the trick for copying radio buttons (I’m working in Acrobat; did a form field recognition)
I have a lot of radio buttons that i need to copy and paste and I remembered you doing something that when you pasted it, it didn’t go to the middle of the page. Please help!
Thanks!
Paula
October 29th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Hi Paula,
You have no control over where the fields are pasted in Acrobat. Be certain to have the Select Object tool selected when you paste and you can easily grab the fields after pasting and move them to a new location. If the Hand tool is active when you paste, clicking the Select Object tool deselect the fields.
Take a look at the files I have uploaded to the TechEd Web site and you can review the slides for my session. You should be able to find the related information I discussed for copying/pasting fields.
ted
July 29th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I’m a novice, and frustrated beyond belief. I have a form I designed in Word 2007 (ok, admit 2007 is probably the root of all World evil, but…).
A portion of the form (2 pages) is a 4 column table. The first three columns are Yes, No, and NA, and the 4th column is the question to be answered. Pretty standard format.
I have two problems…
1. When I run the field reconition command, fields appear in the fourth column in very odd places, where, as near as I can tell there are no “clues” to indicate field placement. There are no spaces, etc. And, I can’t figure out a way to delete them in Acrobat.
2. NONE of the check boxes are recognized. I realize that I can manually add them (have nothing better to do all day tomorrow), but, as an experienced Access user, I’m used to commands allowing realignment, centering, etc., and I haven’t figured out a way to do that in Acrobat yet. So, 2 pages of check boxes seems a bit daunting.
What is interesting is that in one part of the form, I have a two column table, set up like a multiple choice question, and the person has to click on an answer, and ALL of those boxes are recognized. Thus, the flaw with the program appears to be when multiple columns are added.
When I try internet searches, my searches turn up seminars to attend and other things to purchase, including a multitude of add on software. I have no idea if any of these offerings are worth the investiment. Also, I’d really like help and discussion, not a sales pitch.
I’m also confused by something I read about LifeCycle Designer. It is impossible to save forms created in this program? They must be sent when created?
Guidance would be appreciated!
July 29th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Hello,
I know how you feel. I get so frustrated at times myself.
If regard to the problem related to check box fields, one thing Acrobat cannot do is convert text characters to form fields. If you used a font like Wingdings to create the check boxes, they won’t be recognized by auto field detection. You need to physically draw rectangle shapes with drawing tools in the authoring application. If you did use these tools, then perhaps the sizes and placement on the form is a problem.
In regard to tables, auto field detection isn’t the best way to go. I always manually add fields when creating tables. You have much more flexibility when naming fields with hierarchical names (something auto detection won’t do) especially if you need to do any calculations.
You can easily create tables manually. I have a document here on Acrobat Users (101formseTips) that has a number of tips related to creating fields on tables. You can do it quickly by using some of the methods I covered in that document.
Regarding Designer, it’s not possible to edit dynamic forms in Acrobat that were created in Designer. You can save forms from Designer when editing them and save a from created from Designer from Acrobat.
ted
July 30th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Thanks…
Had a bizzare thing happen. I read on one of the posts that using a larger font helps (12 or above). I was at 12, but increased to 16, and in the 4 column table, the column closest to the statement (column 3) was suddenly recognized! Increasing to something larger, however, didn’t trigger recognition of the first two columns.
I found another article that talked about tagging the fields in Word, but I can’t figure out how to do that task. Searching “smart tag” on Microsoft turns up mostly articles on Access, and searching in Word provides nothing relevant to this problem. In fact, I can’t find any resources that discuss the integration of Word and Adobe.
I was using Arial… seldom deviate from it.
I don’t know if you can answer this question, but, for Access, I’ve found the QUE books to be excellent sources of help. Are they as beneficial for Adobe? I saw book recomendations listed somewhere, but they didn’t provide much explanaition, including the target audience (novice, intermediate, etc.). A graduate physics book does me no good if I haven’t had the undergrad 101 course!
Would using Access for the design be a better way to go? Does Adobe recognize Access fields better than it recognizes Word?
And, I’ll check out out your document…. On the bright side, one does tend to learn the most when there is a project involved…. but it also tends to be a more frustrating process!
Thanks again.
July 30th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I’m baffled by the font issue. I’d need to look at the file to figure out what’s happening.
As far as tagging goes, when you install Acrobat (on Windows) you get the PDF Maker (not available on the Mac in version 9). Use the PDF Maker to convert to PDF. In the Preferences (Word 2007) or the Set Conversion Settings dialog box (Word 2003) you can check the Accessibility and Tagging for the document. By default the check box should be enabled. When you create PDFs from Word they re tagged. (You can alos adjust settings in Acrobat in the Convert to PDF Preferences (CTRL + K to open Preferences in Acrobat).
As far as what sources to look at, I generally recommend to people to poke around at a local bookstore and look over the collection of Acrobat books. Everyone has their own style and design that they prefer. There are many fine books on Acrobat out by some very good authors. My guess is that the Que books are on par with the others. If you like the layout and style of the book, go ahead and buy one.
Other sources for you are online blogs and information on Adobe’s Web site. Many authorities make contributions here on Acrobat Users, so check out the forum and articles you find posted on this Web site.
Best Wishes,
ted