Form Controls

The following elements can be present in PDF forms:

 

checkbox icon

Check Box

Presents one or more choices that can be selected or de-selected freely.

radio button icon

Radio Buttons

Presents a group of choices from which a respondent can select only one item and one must always be selected. When adding radio buttons, all buttons in a group must be given the same control name. Right-click for Radio Button Properties to define control and group properties.

text field icon

Text Field

Lets a respondent fill in text such as name, address, date, time, numbers, currency, zip codes. A form that is received may have a preset format, and all responses must conform to the rules for that format. When creating a form, you can set the formats and properties: see Creating and Editing Form Fields. A special type of Text Field is the Comb box, where there are marked spaces for each individual character. Set comb parameters under Text Field Options.

digital signature icon

Digital Signature Field

Lets you add a digital signature to the PDF form to certify it has not been changed since the signature was applied. Whenever you add a signature to a document it is placed into this type of form field. When you open such a document you are warned that it contains a signature.

button icon

Button

This has an action linked to it, such as Back to Top or Submit.

list box icon

List Box

This lets the respondent choose from a list of given text choices.

combobox icon

Combo Box

This lets the respondent choose from a list of given text choices or type in any response.

 

 

This table shows you which form controls are available for different procedures.

 

 

Icon

Control

Import an active PDF form

Activate a PDF form with Form Typer

Manual form design

checkbox icon

Check Box

YES

YES

YES

radio button icon

Radio Button

YES

YES

YES

text field icon

Text Field

YES

YES

YES

signature field icon

Signature Field

YES

--

YES

button icon

Button

YES

--

YES

list box icon

List Box

YES

--

YES

combo box icon

Combo Box

YES

--

YES

Comb Box (a sub-category of Text Field)

YES

YES

YES

 

See Creating and Editing Form Fields on how to manually place form controls onto a page, define their properties, resize, move and align controls and how to set their tabbing order.

 

Note

Do not edit form controls or run Form Typer on a form with active XFA controls.

 

See also: Form Preferences and the Form Controls Panel.

 

To see how form controls are affected when a document is flattened, see Flattening Documents. You can use Document Inspection to remove form fields and actions.