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Help: Creating Forms with PDFpenPro

More info on the difference between PDFpen and PDFpenPro

How to upgrade to PDFpenPro from PDFpen.

Adding a Text Field, Checkbox or Radio Button

  • Hold down the Text Field button text field in the toolbar to reveal all three form element tools.
  • Choose the form element you want to add.
  • Click in the PDF to add the element.

When adding a text field, you can click and drag the tool to get the field size you want.

When adding checkboxes or radio buttons, PDFpenPro automatically adds a text label next to the element that can be selected separately and resized or reformatted.

Testing Your Form and Editing Appearance

You will need to switch to the Select Text Tool tool in order to try out your form. Switch back to the Edit Tool (Arrow)edit tool in order to edit the appearance of elements you've placed in your form.

Form Element Properties

PDFpenPro lets you edit several properties of the form elements in the Form Element Properties panel. The contents of the window varies depending on which form element is selected.

To view, choose Window > Form Element Properties, or click on the Form tab form elements in the panel if it is already open.

  • Name
    Every form element has a name to differentiate it from the others.
    Generally you use a different name for each field. A group of radio buttons, however, should each have the same name but a different Checked Value. This allows them to work together (i.e. only one button in a group can be selected) and each yield a different result.
  • Default value (Text Field)
    This sets the default value for a text field. You must choose Edit > Reset Form after entering the default value and before saving the form for the default to be displayed when your PDF form is opened by a user..
  • Checked Value (Radio Button, Checkbox)
    This is the value yielded when the associated radio button or checkbox is checked.
  • Character Limit (Text Field)
    hen checked and a number entered in the related field, this is the max number of characters that can be entered into a text field.
  • Required
    Check if you require this form field to be filled out by the user. The user will be notified when they try to save a document with form fields that are required but not yet filled.
  • Size to fit (Text Field)
    The text field can grow or shrink to fit the text that is entered.
  • Multi-line (Text Field)
    The text field can contain more than one line of text.
  • Scroll text (Text Field)
    The text field will scroll horizontally and/or vertically in a fixed size so that more than just the visible text can be entered.
  • Check by default
    This sets the default for a checkbox or a radio button to be checked. You must choose Edit > Reset Form after choosing "Check by default" and before saving the form for the default to be displayed when your PDF form is opened by a user.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
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