This post discusses the form-creation features of PDF files using the program Adobe Acrobat Pro 9. This post is the fourth post in our Acrobat Pro 9 series of posts. At the bottom of this post there is some information on how to extract (export) the data from the form.
The best way to do this is to start with a Word file and then convert it to a PDF and then add the controls to make the form interactive (fillable).
Below is our form that I created in Microsoft Word and saved it as a DOC file. It has a table with the fields in cells. Notice that I aligned most of the text as Align Center Left. The text inside the cell is equal-distance from the top and bottom of the cell. I put in the YES and NO but I did not add any boxes in Word. I will do this in Adobe.
I then exported this file from Word to create a PDF file. One That is done, I need to open Adobe and then open the PDF file that I just creatd in Word. Next I need to click Forms in Adobe and click Start Form Wizard. An existing electronic document. Next. Us e the current document. Ok. After this you get what you see below in a screenshot.
Each of these objects, where the applicant enters data, has properties. One property I changed was the font size. How do you do that? Click the object, right-click and select Properties. In the Appearance tab select Font Size and enter the size you want. Ten may be a good choice. By default I find that the size is too large. You can select multiple objects and right-click and click Properties and set the font size for many objects all at one.
You also have the ability to set the tab order of the fields. Adobe will automatically set them for you starting at the top left and then moving to the one one the right and then work down the page. Change it if necessary. How do you do that? On the left side of the interface there is a list of fields. Click Tab Order and drag and drop the field names to the order you want.
Add Radio Buttons
On the interface at the top left you will find the Add New Field button. Click that and select Radio Button. Before doing that you may want to set up a few guides. Click where the ruler is and drag over a guide line so that your radio buttons will be aligned to each other. Then go ahead and add your radio buttons Give the group a name describing what the radio button is for, as shown in the screen shot below. Next, click the link Add another button to group. Place it. Change the Yes to No.
Add the radio buttons for each of the YES NO questions on your form. You can also add check boxes as needed. There are a few different controls available under the Add New Field button. Now you can click the Preview button to see what the form looks like. You can then go back into editing mode by clicking the Edit Layout button.
All of the radio buttons in the same group must have the same name to operate correctly as either/or.
Extracting/Exporting Data from a Fillable Form
With Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 you can extract the data from a fillable form into a CSV file. From there you can open that up in MS Excel and work with the data. How do you extract the data? In Acrobat Pro 9, go to Forms -> Manage Form Data -> Merge Data files into spreadsheet… -> Add Files and browse out to the PDF filled-out forms that you want to export to a CSV file. You can pick more than one. After you have added all of your files, click the Export button. Choose a location and give it an appropriate name.
All of the forms you choose must be from the same original form file, with the same data fields. The data fields are named, and the CSV file puts the names on the top row with each file on its own row under that. This makes it easy for Excel to import the CSV file into a spreadsheet. I found that the columns in the spreadsheet are not in the same order as the fillable PDF file. I may need to look at the tab order inside the PDF form and make some adjustments. That may or may not solve the problem.
You can export the data to either a CSV file or an XML file. It is easy to import your data from a well-formatted CSV file into Excel by simply opening the CSV file with Excel. Go ahead, if you want, and save that as an Excel file using Save As.
Into a SQL Server Table
If you need to import your data into SQL Server, have a look at the post at this site called Create Table SQL Script in Excel. This is the last step in the diagram of steps below.
These Adobe Acrobat posts cover many of the things you need to know to get through all of the above steps to the second-last step. For example, if your company is needing a way to collect survey data from customers and ultimately needs that data in Excel and SQL Server then this is one method. There are of course other ways of doing this.