![]() Email is generally not a secure means to transmit data, and it looks like your forms may include some sensitive information. Both support exporting data as XML, but the details are different.Īnother thing to consider regardless of which way you go is security. Post again if you cannot find it.Īn important thing to consider is extracting the data if you'll be dumping the data to a database. There is a great article by Thom Parker here somewhere that discusses the differences and the reasons you may choose one over the other. For dynamic forms, you'll want to do the design work in Designer, not InDesign. I prefer acroforms due to their simplicity and support of everything PDF has to offer. Acroforms (those created by Acrobat) have much wider support with third-party PDF viewers (Foxit, NitroPDF, Nuance, etc.) If the form needs to be dynamic (e.g., adding fields at runtime, expandable fields), Designer is what you'll want to use. If you use XFA, your users will need to use Acrobat or Reader. I'd say either Acrobat or Designer will be fine. There can be a steeper learning curve with LC Designer (particularly with scripting), but there are plenty of resources online and on the forums. In LC Designer you can set up a Master Page (or multiple Master Pages) and assign these to particular pages in the form. For example importing/exporting XML data, connecting to a database or a web service call. Also you can start to add script to change the appearance of the form at runtime, for example showing/hiding objects.įorms developed in LC Designer are called XFA Forms, which give better flexibility for processing data later. LC Designer gives sufficient control over the objects to change visual appearance. If you start the form from scratch in LC Designer, you will only be working in one environment. You can then overlay this with form objects. ![]() This workflow is okay for simple/short forms.If using LC Designer, then you can export the InDesign layout as an image file and then place this in LC Designer as a background. Any changes have to be made in InDesign and then replace the pages in the PDF form. You can see that this means you are developing in two environments. One basic workflow is InDesign for the form layout > Export to PDF > Open PDF in Acrobat > From the Forms menu you can run the forms wizard which will detect fields and generate objects. The interaction (textfields, radio buttons, etc) are added in Acrobat. ![]() However InDesign really only creates the visual appearance of the form. InDesign will give you greater control over the look and feel of the form. Just follow the instructions on spacing and how to place form fields and otherwise do your own thing with it.I would recommend LC Designer over InDesign for creating forms. We’ll go through creating a simple form, but by no means does your design have to look exactly like this to get a form that works. Also make sure elements are separated and there is no overlapping text, which can cause form fields to fuse together and do other funky things that can add hours to your work. Avoid fancy graphical elements in the background. The best way to ensure that your design is readable is to stick to a white background with black type for any info that needs to be converted. The OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software that Acrobat uses to convert your design into a working form can only see clear, legible type and high-contrasting elements. The first rule of thumb is to keep your design uncluttered. In this tutorial, you will learn how to design a clean, working form to minimize your workflow headaches. Seemingly simple tasks that should take minutes can take hours to correct and fine tune. You may get a radio button where you wanted a checkbox. The recognition software may create fields on one line but not the next. Click the link to go to the full tutorial.Ĭreating forms in Acrobat can be a taxing process. Here is one tutorial for using Adobe InDesign to create forms that your user can fill in just using any PDF reader: via Creating Fillable PDF Forms With InDesign and Adobe Acrobat. Learning to use Adobe products like InDesign & Illustrator is useful to create PDFs that are more usable, interactive, and user-friendly. Do you want to create a form to distribute out to the public, that users can fill in (within constraints set by you)? Then it’s worth investing in some powerful software, beyond standard Microsoft Word & Adobe Acrobat Reader.
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