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Full Version of Acrobat to use Forms? 5
- Thread starter signal49
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To "use" forms, Reader will work. To "make" forms, Acrobat 6.0 Professional.
Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
- Thread starter
- #3
Right I know that. I ask this question because we may start offering form creation for our customers, but I'm not sure exactly who will be able to use and benefit from them. Most of our customers don't have the full version, but may need to be able to fill in, print and possibly save their filled-in forms.
I did some searching online and found something called Acrobat Approval. It's a plug-in for Acrobat that allows users to use and save pdf forms and it only costs about $40, which would be perfect for our customers. It looks like it's for version 5. It's buried in the Adobe website -- I only found it by clicking on a link on someone else's website.... I can't find a direct link or even mention of it by going to Adobe.com and products. So I'm not sure if it's compatible with Reader 6 or if you can even really still purchase it.
Does anyone use Approval? Has anyone else heard of it?
I did some searching online and found something called Acrobat Approval. It's a plug-in for Acrobat that allows users to use and save pdf forms and it only costs about $40, which would be perfect for our customers. It looks like it's for version 5. It's buried in the Adobe website -- I only found it by clicking on a link on someone else's website.... I can't find a direct link or even mention of it by going to Adobe.com and products. So I'm not sure if it's compatible with Reader 6 or if you can even really still purchase it.
Does anyone use Approval? Has anyone else heard of it?
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Adobe has great products, but they're product lines and structure are confusing -- intentionally so to get people to buy more than they need.
I believe I have the answer for you: If your customers have the free version of Acrobat (Acrobat Reader) they can fill out forms and save them to their hard drives as PDFs. They cannot create forms or edit them with the free version. Your customers can do the same if they have the FULL version or PRO version of Acrobat (this is the one that costs over $200 US). They also can edit or change the entire PDF document with this version of Acrobat.
Not to worry. The version of Acrobat you have that created the forms also has a security function that allows you to lock the forms from editing by individuals that have the full version of Acrobat.
I believe I have the answer for you: If your customers have the free version of Acrobat (Acrobat Reader) they can fill out forms and save them to their hard drives as PDFs. They cannot create forms or edit them with the free version. Your customers can do the same if they have the FULL version or PRO version of Acrobat (this is the one that costs over $200 US). They also can edit or change the entire PDF document with this version of Acrobat.
Not to worry. The version of Acrobat you have that created the forms also has a security function that allows you to lock the forms from editing by individuals that have the full version of Acrobat.
- Thread starter
- #5
Thanks for the input wjgrayson!
I seem to have lost my ability to communicate this week! The thing is, we *want* the customers to be able to use the forms! Like if we created an Employee Evaluation or something similar, they could incorporate into their workflow. But we don't want to make them to have to purchase the $200 version of Acrobat when all they're really going to be doing with it is filling out and saving forms.... It sounds like Approval is exactly what they would need. I was pretty sure you don't have the capability of saving any files with the free Reader. If you CAN save it, then they wouldn't need to purchase anything, which would be really cool, but I don't think that's the case. I'm going to have to just download Reader and find out for sure how much you can/can't do with it.
I seem to have lost my ability to communicate this week! The thing is, we *want* the customers to be able to use the forms! Like if we created an Employee Evaluation or something similar, they could incorporate into their workflow. But we don't want to make them to have to purchase the $200 version of Acrobat when all they're really going to be doing with it is filling out and saving forms.... It sounds like Approval is exactly what they would need. I was pretty sure you don't have the capability of saving any files with the free Reader. If you CAN save it, then they wouldn't need to purchase anything, which would be really cool, but I don't think that's the case. I'm going to have to just download Reader and find out for sure how much you can/can't do with it.
NOT Approval... that's for mark-up and annotations. If you just want users to USE forms (Acrobat data-entry widgets), then all the users need is the FREE READER.
Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
If I understand your problem correctly, then YOU DON'T NEED ADOBE APPROVAL! Here's the test I just did with my company intranet site, which posts adobe PDF forms for check requests, purchase requistions, etc.
1. I opened up the form using the Free Adobe Reader.
2. I entered information into the form
3. I then chose File>Save As & saved it to my hard drive.
I could not edit the actual form box, but you don't want that.
Download the reader yourself and see what results you get. Good luck!
1. I opened up the form using the Free Adobe Reader.
2. I entered information into the form
3. I then chose File>Save As & saved it to my hard drive.
I could not edit the actual form box, but you don't want that.
Download the reader yourself and see what results you get. Good luck!
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I don't mean to beat a dead horse! I'm just trying to figure out what our options really are, and get some opinions from anyone who's done something like this. We'd really like to be able to offer this service but it won't work if our customers have to purchase expensive software on top of the cost of our creating the file. Please bear with me!
I created a *very* simple form with Acrobat 6 and downloaded the free Reader, version 6. When I opened the form in Reader, a message popped up that said I could fill in the fields and print it, but I couldn't save anything. When I tried to save it anyway (and the only option was "Save a Copy"), the message said I could save a copy of the file, but it would not save any of the information entered into the fields; it would only be saved as a copy of the original form without my additions, which is exactly what happened. I double checked the security settings in Acrobat Pro, which were set to none. So it's not a security issue. Reader just can't save it, which is what I originally thought. (I'm curious about wjgrayson's last post... did it really save the filled-in stuff or just a copy of the empty form?)
After doing some more research online, I found a thing called Adobe Reader Extensions Server. Adobe says: "Activate hidden functionality within Adobe Reader; Enable any user to save, fill in, sign and submit PDF documents." (See Adobe Support Knowledgebase Document: 328647) So this is something that WE would have to purchase to allow our customers to be able to fill in and save the files. Has anyone heard of/used this? Is it expensive? Is it worth it?? Does it really do what it sounds like it can do?
And again, not to beat a dead horse, but has anyone used or encouraged the use of Adobe Approval? It really sounds to me like the perfect solution to this issue... but I'm nervous about it!
Again, thanks in advance for any advice. I truly appreciate every bit of input!
I created a *very* simple form with Acrobat 6 and downloaded the free Reader, version 6. When I opened the form in Reader, a message popped up that said I could fill in the fields and print it, but I couldn't save anything. When I tried to save it anyway (and the only option was "Save a Copy"), the message said I could save a copy of the file, but it would not save any of the information entered into the fields; it would only be saved as a copy of the original form without my additions, which is exactly what happened. I double checked the security settings in Acrobat Pro, which were set to none. So it's not a security issue. Reader just can't save it, which is what I originally thought. (I'm curious about wjgrayson's last post... did it really save the filled-in stuff or just a copy of the empty form?)
After doing some more research online, I found a thing called Adobe Reader Extensions Server. Adobe says: "Activate hidden functionality within Adobe Reader; Enable any user to save, fill in, sign and submit PDF documents." (See Adobe Support Knowledgebase Document: 328647) So this is something that WE would have to purchase to allow our customers to be able to fill in and save the files. Has anyone heard of/used this? Is it expensive? Is it worth it?? Does it really do what it sounds like it can do?
And again, not to beat a dead horse, but has anyone used or encouraged the use of Adobe Approval? It really sounds to me like the perfect solution to this issue... but I'm nervous about it!
Again, thanks in advance for any advice. I truly appreciate every bit of input!
Adobe Acrobat Approval enables the annotation features of Acrobat PDFs, it does NOT enable the Form features.
Annotations are highlights and little sticky notes, etc.
The Reader Extensions Server allows... well, exactly what you just said. The licensing is restrictive and way too darn expensive to make it even a consideration, I think. The product creates a "special" PDF. The users use the standard Reader. Your server creates a "special" PDF, that, when seen by Reader, allows the extra functionality. The whole setup really stinks, in my opinion.
Reader allows user to fill in and print Forms. It also allows them to SUBMIT the forms, to a web page written to handle such a thing.
You keep mentioning Approval, and I'm almost 100% sure that it is not the product you need.
What you need is a situation where the PDF forms are served over a web browser, and the data is submitted (via Standard Reader) back to your server. The data is then processed just like a regular html/http post. Save it, whatever you need to do.
At some point you have to trust the advice you're being given. It doesn't have to be MY advice, though I do make a living at this: forget Approval. Forget Reader Extensions. Find a way to make Acrobat 6.0 Professional and the free Reader work for you.
Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
Annotations are highlights and little sticky notes, etc.
The Reader Extensions Server allows... well, exactly what you just said. The licensing is restrictive and way too darn expensive to make it even a consideration, I think. The product creates a "special" PDF. The users use the standard Reader. Your server creates a "special" PDF, that, when seen by Reader, allows the extra functionality. The whole setup really stinks, in my opinion.
Reader allows user to fill in and print Forms. It also allows them to SUBMIT the forms, to a web page written to handle such a thing.
You keep mentioning Approval, and I'm almost 100% sure that it is not the product you need.
What you need is a situation where the PDF forms are served over a web browser, and the data is submitted (via Standard Reader) back to your server. The data is then processed just like a regular html/http post. Save it, whatever you need to do.
At some point you have to trust the advice you're being given. It doesn't have to be MY advice, though I do make a living at this: forget Approval. Forget Reader Extensions. Find a way to make Acrobat 6.0 Professional and the free Reader work for you.
Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
Tgreer's advice is right on the money, and very eloquently stated. Do NOT give Adobe any of your or your company's hard-earned cash because of their confusing product line.
I've been struggling through the benefits and drawbacks of Adobe products and compatibility for the past year -- I started with Acrobat, and am now venturing into Illustrator and Photoshop territory. I've fought the battles of true type verses Adobe Type one verses Opentype (and Mac compatibility and PC).
Adobe is poised to become a mini-microsoft in its monopoly of visual design software. Understand their product suites carefully before forking over any of your cash.
But then, I'm on a tirade. Back to your original concern --- I still don't think you need Approval. Let's keep working to get you working without buying the additional software.
I've been struggling through the benefits and drawbacks of Adobe products and compatibility for the past year -- I started with Acrobat, and am now venturing into Illustrator and Photoshop territory. I've fought the battles of true type verses Adobe Type one verses Opentype (and Mac compatibility and PC).
Adobe is poised to become a mini-microsoft in its monopoly of visual design software. Understand their product suites carefully before forking over any of your cash.
But then, I'm on a tirade. Back to your original concern --- I still don't think you need Approval. Let's keep working to get you working without buying the additional software.
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- #12
LOL Ok Point taken! I'll give up on Approval... and definately on Extensions Server.
The only real situation we've had that made us want to explore this option is that a customer gave us their employee evaluation form (hard copy) that they wanted us to turn into an electronic form so they could fill out and save it for each employee on the computer instead of by hand.
We have a copier that can scan as pdf. We tried that, then did Paper Capture with less than acceptable results. So then I tried placing a tif of it in the background of a Word document, which is all our customers really know how to use. I tried to set up fields on top of the spaces that need to be filled in, but there was an issue with the tabs crossing each other and it wouldn't keep the right formatting, blah blah blah.... It's the perfect situation for Acrobat forms, but, of course, nobody has Acrobat Standard or Pro; most of them only have Reader v5 because someone else put it there and they're afraid of downloading or installing anything. (We don't deal with the most "technical" of people...)
So we basically tried whatever we could think of to make this work for our customer and couldn't come up with anything outside of recreating it from scratch. We ended up telling them we couldn't do it and haven't really had that situation come up again. Maybe we should give up on this whole idea. We're a small quick print/copy shop so this is a little out of our field, but I think that getting into the more digital/electronic aspect of things is going to become more and more necessary for us to be able to compete and stay in business. Which is why I'm researching this to see if it's even worth trying to do.
I REALLY appreciate both of your help!! I don't want to drag this out too much -- I didn't mean to make this a "help me with a miniscule specific problem that might not even be worth doing" thing!! I feel like I *should* be paying you for so much input
and I don't want to waste your time! I guess I just can't see a way to make the idea work without requiring either end to have to buy something else... (Maybe I should start my own business on the side and do forms creation exclusively! Screw graphic design! LOL)
The only real situation we've had that made us want to explore this option is that a customer gave us their employee evaluation form (hard copy) that they wanted us to turn into an electronic form so they could fill out and save it for each employee on the computer instead of by hand.
We have a copier that can scan as pdf. We tried that, then did Paper Capture with less than acceptable results. So then I tried placing a tif of it in the background of a Word document, which is all our customers really know how to use. I tried to set up fields on top of the spaces that need to be filled in, but there was an issue with the tabs crossing each other and it wouldn't keep the right formatting, blah blah blah.... It's the perfect situation for Acrobat forms, but, of course, nobody has Acrobat Standard or Pro; most of them only have Reader v5 because someone else put it there and they're afraid of downloading or installing anything. (We don't deal with the most "technical" of people...)
So we basically tried whatever we could think of to make this work for our customer and couldn't come up with anything outside of recreating it from scratch. We ended up telling them we couldn't do it and haven't really had that situation come up again. Maybe we should give up on this whole idea. We're a small quick print/copy shop so this is a little out of our field, but I think that getting into the more digital/electronic aspect of things is going to become more and more necessary for us to be able to compete and stay in business. Which is why I'm researching this to see if it's even worth trying to do.
I REALLY appreciate both of your help!! I don't want to drag this out too much -- I didn't mean to make this a "help me with a miniscule specific problem that might not even be worth doing" thing!! I feel like I *should* be paying you for so much input
and I don't want to waste your time! I guess I just can't see a way to make the idea work without requiring either end to have to buy something else... (Maybe I should start my own business on the side and do forms creation exclusively! Screw graphic design! LOL)Visit my website? And remember me for future business? I'll consider that "payment in full".
Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
stryder7of9
Technical User
I just stumbled upon this thread, and this is the EXACT issue that I have been fighting with for over a week. I read Adobe's marketing and thought it would do exactly what I needed, then loaded Acrobat 6 and Reader 6 and found that it would not.
I want to create a VERY simple form (2-4 fields) that are the only editable fields in the document. I then need clients to be able to save, email, print, copy the doc with the forms filled in. I now know that Reader will NOT do this, so is there another alternative solution to the problem????
I want to create a VERY simple form (2-4 fields) that are the only editable fields in the document. I then need clients to be able to save, email, print, copy the doc with the forms filled in. I now know that Reader will NOT do this, so is there another alternative solution to the problem????
Acrobat 6.0 Professional creates fillable forms.
The free Acrobat Reader can USE fillable forms. Users of the "Reader" product can fill in and submit forms.
As to saving a form's data, printing it and so on, I don't believe Reader does this with Reader 6.0.
Adobe's entire Acrobat line is fragmented and confusing, made even more so by recent acquisitions that have been forced into the Acrobat or "Server" line of products. Then too, they don't know how or to whom to market the product.
They ONLY definitive statement one can find regarding Forms and Reader is:
Q. Can I fill out Adobe PDF forms in Adobe Reader?
A. Yes, as long as the creator of the document used the appropriate tools in Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Professional to create interactive form fields, not static form fields. Ask the author of the document to create an Adobe PDF form that can be completed electronically in Adobe Reader with interactive form fields.
So indeed the user can "fill out" and "submit" forms, but no statement regarding printing, saving, or copying.
You asked for alternatives. Yes, there are. Google for "PDF Form" and you'll see a lot of form-related PDF tools.
Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
The free Acrobat Reader can USE fillable forms. Users of the "Reader" product can fill in and submit forms.
As to saving a form's data, printing it and so on, I don't believe Reader does this with Reader 6.0.
Adobe's entire Acrobat line is fragmented and confusing, made even more so by recent acquisitions that have been forced into the Acrobat or "Server" line of products. Then too, they don't know how or to whom to market the product.
They ONLY definitive statement one can find regarding Forms and Reader is:
Q. Can I fill out Adobe PDF forms in Adobe Reader?
A. Yes, as long as the creator of the document used the appropriate tools in Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Professional to create interactive form fields, not static form fields. Ask the author of the document to create an Adobe PDF form that can be completed electronically in Adobe Reader with interactive form fields.
So indeed the user can "fill out" and "submit" forms, but no statement regarding printing, saving, or copying.
You asked for alternatives. Yes, there are. Google for "PDF Form" and you'll see a lot of form-related PDF tools.
Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
stryder7of9
Technical User
Thanks for the reply. My research shows that, for a PDF form, using Reader you can read, fill out, print, and -- with proper programmatic support -- submit data to the web. What you cannot do is Save, store, copy, email as an attachment, or do anything else with the file as a file. Whenever you do any of those things the PDF purges all of the form data and saves only the original PDF doc. [This is unless you buy Acrobat Server with Reader Extensions for $6500/form or $170/Reader Served].
This does not meet my needs (and is presented in an extremely mis-leading way in the Adobe marketing material), so I am looking for alternatives. I have done some googling, but will try your search criteria and do some more.
This does not meet my needs (and is presented in an extremely mis-leading way in the Adobe marketing material), so I am looking for alternatives. I have done some googling, but will try your search criteria and do some more.
Product&SearchString=&SearchPlatform=-1&SearchCategory=11&CompanyID=
&SearchApplicationType=-1&SearchLicenseType=-1
Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
&SearchApplicationType=-1&SearchLicenseType=-1
Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
Second attempt --
This method of "saving" PDF Forms with Reader came from -
Julian Eade
Sydney, Australia
Who described this process and asked me to post it here:
The key is that while Reader can't save the content of a filled form, it can print the completed form. Therefore what anyone who doesn't have full Acrobat needs to do is download and install one of the free pdf creator programs, (which is in essence a pdf printer) and 'print' the completed form to this printer. I used the one from PDF995.com but there are several available and I'm sure that they'd all work as well as PDF995 did for me. If the form may need to be reused then save the filled copy to a different filename.
While it isn't quite as elegant a solution as saving in the Reader, any user who is capable of downloading and installing Acrobat Reader for themselves is also capable of downloading and installing a free pdf printer.
Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
This method of "saving" PDF Forms with Reader came from -
Julian Eade
Sydney, Australia
Who described this process and asked me to post it here:
The key is that while Reader can't save the content of a filled form, it can print the completed form. Therefore what anyone who doesn't have full Acrobat needs to do is download and install one of the free pdf creator programs, (which is in essence a pdf printer) and 'print' the completed form to this printer. I used the one from PDF995.com but there are several available and I'm sure that they'd all work as well as PDF995 did for me. If the form may need to be reused then save the filled copy to a different filename.
While it isn't quite as elegant a solution as saving in the Reader, any user who is capable of downloading and installing Acrobat Reader for themselves is also capable of downloading and installing a free pdf printer.
Thomas D. Greer
Providing PostScript & PDF
Training, Development & Consulting
teletubby5e
Technical User
using the above directions with acrobat pro, i have scanned in a paper form we use for a vendor. made the blank fields into text field boxes using adobe designer, and so far all is well, i can save the subsequent pdf file or print out, or email to vendor.
what i am trying to do however, is to have the 'submit email' button send the ENTIRE form, instead of just data for xml file.
any ideas how to do this? or can you steer me in the right direction?
thanks, jeff
what i am trying to do however, is to have the 'submit email' button send the ENTIRE form, instead of just data for xml file.
any ideas how to do this? or can you steer me in the right direction?
thanks, jeff
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