Creating and Modifying Interactive PDF Forms

One of the most demanded functions of PDF editors is a possibility to create PDF forms. Master PDF Editor allows to place in documents any interactive forms, which later can be filled, signed with digital signature, printed, saved or sent via email.

In Forms menu you can choose an option for new form fields creation. Forms settings are displayed in Object Inspector window. It allows to specify settings for one or multiple forms at once.

To edit form fields, enable editing mode by pressing Edit Document or Edit Forms button on toolbar or choosing either of these tools in Tools menu.

PDF file may contain following kinds of forms:

Link enables user for a quick move to another place of current, attached or any other document, to other files and web sites. Can also be used to initiate predefined event.

To add link to the document choose Forms > Link ( Ctrl+L) in menu or press Insert Link button on the toolbar. This will show a marker, allowing you to choose field for link (Tool can be deactivated with Esc or right mouse button). You can set options and define actions for link in Object Inspector.

Geometry tab allows enables user for more pressing positioning of the link field on the document page. For more details see Geometry Objects and Geometry Forms

Following settings can be set for link in Options tab:

Actions tab allows to set kind of action and a trigger, which has to be fired in order for the action to be performed.

Trigger item is used to specify kind of event, which must be initiated by user for defined action to be preformed. Following actions(events) can be set as trigger: Mouse Up, Mouse Down, Mouse Enter, Mouse Exit, On Receive Focus, On Lose Focus.

Action item allows user to specify kind of action, which will be preformed after trigger is fired: Goto a Page View, Open/execute a file, Open a web link, Reset form, Show/hide fields, Submit a form, Run a JavaScript. For details, see Actions.

Link attributes can be changed any moment according to your requirements.

To create a push button, choose corresponding item in Forms menu. Click a spot of the document page, where you want to locate the button. Application will create a button of default size. Instead, you can hold left mouse button and draw a rectangle box of required size. You can create multiple instances of push button. Names of newly created button are same as first button’s name, but with index number. If you create new buttons by copying the first one, they will have completely identical name. Button copies work independently of each other.

If required, copied button can be pasted to all pages of the document or specific range of pages. To do it, choose Paste to multiple pages item in Edit menu.

Settings for buttons in Object Inspector Geometry, General, Appearance and Actions tabs are similar to these settings for other form fields. See PDF Forms Properties and Geometry.

Following settings can be set for Push Button in Options tab:

Check box is used to provide a user Yes/No kind of input to express agreement with document items. Usually this kind of form is used when required to choose several options out of a list. If only one option has to be chosen, then radio buttons are usually used. To create a check box on the document, choose Forms > Check Box in menu.

Settings for check boxes in Object Inspector window are identical to other form fields settings in Geometry, General, Appearance, Actions tabs. See PDF Forms Properties and Geometry.

When creating a check box, it is possible to make it required to be filled by user. To do it, check Required item in General tab of Object Inspector window. When user fills forms, required fields are highlighted.

• Style item allows to choose check box kind: check, circle, cross, diamond, square, or star. Export Value item is used to specify a value for export, if the field is enabled by user when filling forms. If Checked by Default is enabled, check box will be checked when resetting forms (menu item Forms > Reset Forms resets data in all document forms. Fields are set to default values or cleared, if there’s no default value.)

All the actions with check boxes (creation, movement, resizing, creating copies, duplicating and removing) are conducted same way as for all other kinds of form fields.

To create radio button form field, choose Forms > Radio Button menu item. Radio button is most common way to give user possibility to choose one option out of a set. Radio buttons always work in groups unlike check boxes. Accordingly, all the form fields of a radio button group have to own identical Names (General tab) and different Export values (Options tab). All radio button settings are identical to those of check boxes.

All the actions with radio buttons (creation, movement, resizing, creating copies, duplicating and removing) are conducted same way as for all other kinds of form fields.

All the radio button settings in Object Inspector window are identical to other form fields settings in Geometry, General, Appearance, Actions tabs. See PDF Forms Properties and Geometry.

Choose Forms > List Box menu item to create a list.

When filling, user may choose one or multiple list box items. Possibility of such choice depends on settings, applied by the document’s author. When creating several list box fields in PDF document, all of them have to own unique Names (General tab).

Following settings can be set for List Box in Options tab:

• Item — to add an item to the list, specify its text in item field and click Add button. To remove it from the list, choose the item in the list and click Delete button.
• Export value — if required for export value to be different from selected list item when exporting data, specify custom export value at this item. (If Export value isn’t set, it will be automatically set to the text of the chosen item.)
• Up and Down — these buttons allow to move selected item up and down the list.
• Sort Items — if enabled, buttons Up and Down are locked, and list items are automatically sorted in alphabet order.
• Multiple selection — if enabled, users will be able to select multiple items of the list.
• Commit selected value immediately — if enabled, value as saved right after user selects it. If disabled, value is saved only when user switches focus from current field to another form.

All the actions with lists (creation, movement, resizing, creating copies, duplicating and removing) and settings in Geometry, General, Appearance, Actions tabs are same as for all other kinds of form fields. See PDF Forms Properties and Geometry.

With combo box user can choose an item out of a predefined set or specify custom value.

Settings of combo box in Options tab are same to those of a list box, except for the only item Allow user to enter custom text. If this item is enabled, user may enter custom value when filling the form.

Edit box allows user to enter custom text when filling PDF form.

To create edit box choose Forms>Edit Box menu item and click a spot of the document page, where you want to locate edit box. Application will create an edit box of default size. Instead, you can hold left mouse button and draw a rectangle box of required size.

When creating multiple edit boxes in PDF document, they all have to own unique names (General tab). In case it’s not done, data will be duplicated in all edit boxes with same name when one of them is filled by user.

Following settings can be set for Edit Box in Options tab:

• Formatted text — if enabled, possible to enter formatted text (bold, italic, underline etc.) (Current version doesn’t support formatted text.)
• Alignment — this item allows to specify text position in form field (left, center, right).
• Default value — allows to specify default text.
• Multi-line — if enabled, entered text will be written to separate lines. Otherwise all text is written into single line.
• Password — if enabled, text will be displayed as start when entered by user. (Available only if Check spelling is disabled)
• Scrollable — if enabled, user may input text, which exceeds the borders of the edit box.
• Check spelling — if enabled, spell-check is preformed on the text in the edit box.
• Limit to — allows to specify maximal amount of characters to be entered by user.
• Split into — allows to split edit box into specified number of cells for characters input.

You can set parameters and define actions for form fields in Objects Inspector.

Find out more about PDF form parameters here: PDF Forms Properties. Objects Inspector