Although it is possible to create a fillable PDF completely free of charge, some users still swear by the professional, albeit costly standard solution: Adobe Acrobat.
This may be due to the fact that not every customer or colleague has an MS Office license or wants to use OpenOffice or LibreOffice. In addition, Adobe offers some special features that the competition cannot keep up with. The most outstanding feature is the automatic and surprisingly reliable recognition feature: form fields in digital files and even scanned paper documents can be recognized. With Adobe software, you can even convert your MS Word form into a fillable PDF.
This is how it works:
- In the toolbar, click on “Forms” “Start Form Wizard” (the procedure and menu names can vary greatly from version to version; our instructions refer to Adobe Acrobat 9).
- In the newly-opened window, select the source of your form. Acrobat can open existing electronic forms (PDF, Word, Excel, and many other formats) as well as convert scanned paper documents into a form (alternatively, you can create a completely new form using templates).
- The form wizard automatically recognizes all static form fields and names them according to the text surrounding them. This process happens in an instant and has a high success rate. It can also happen that Acrobat forgets a field or misinterprets a visual separator as a signature field. In this case, you can quickly correct the error by inserting, moving, or deleting form elements yourself.
Apart from this practical tool, the selection and functionality of the tools in Adobe Acrobat are very similar to those in MS Word, OpenOffice, and LibreOffice: Text fields, check boxes, option, list fields, combination fields, and buttons can be conveniently arranged using the crosshair display and configured by double-clicking.
In addition, the program offers interesting additional functions, some of which are described in more detail below:
- Fill out interactive forms faster by using the tab key to go from input field to input field instead of clicking on each element individually. In Adobe Acrobat, you can set the tab order to make this process as efficient as possible.
- In combination with Adobe Sign, it is possible to add a field for a digital signature to the forms.
- Another tool in Acrobat is the barcode field. This automatically converts all form entries into a unique barcode that can be read and interpreted with the appropriate hardware. This facilitates the analysis and archiving of forms when they are returned to you in paper form by mail or fax.
- Finished PDF forms can also be distributed to customers and colleagues via e-mail or an internal server using Adobe Acrobat. The program also makes it possible to track the feedback status and send automatic reminders in the event of missed appointments.
Adobe offers extensive tutorials for all additional functions on its website. There is also a free trial version of Adobe Acrobat, which is valid for 14 days and enables you to create and edit PDFs and resize documents of this file type.
There are numerous alternatives to Adobe Acrobat with similar functions. However, creating fillable PDF forms is usually only possible in the Pro versions of these programs (e.g. Qoppa PDF Studio, PDF-XChange Editor) or in fee-based trialware (e.g. Foxit Phantom PDF, Nitro Pro).