What’s the easiest way to e-mail a PDF form and have people fill it out?
My goal is to send
a simple one-page form to computer-illiterate people, have them fill it out and
return it. Is there a simple way? –Brad
Bloomquist
Users with Reader-only cannot submit a
complete PDF. They can, however, submit an FDF, which when you receive it will
populate the original form and you can save it.
In Acrobat, use the form tool to create
a submit button. When you edit what it's supposed to do, you put in your mailto:
address and click the FDF radio button. When the FDF comes in your e-mail, you
double-click on it and it launches your original form and merges the data. You
simply do a save as (with a unique name) and you have the completed PDF. It's
pretty slick for a free alternative.
To export form data to a
file:
1. Open the Adobe PDF form and fill
it out.
2. Choose Advanced > Forms > Export Forms Data.
3. Specify a
location and filename, and then click Save.
To import form data from a
file:
- Open the Adobe PDF form.
- Choose Advanced > Forms >
Import Forms Data.
- Select a file, and click
Select.
Note: If you import form
data from a form that does not match the form you are importing into, only the
form fields that match are updated, and those that do not match are ignored.
Existing text in text form fields is replaced if you import data to those
fields. –Rich Sprague
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