Form elements
The following elements can be present in PDF forms:
- Check Box
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Presents one or more choices that can be selected or de-selected freely.
- Radio Buttons
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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
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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 Field
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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
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This has an action linked to it, such as Back to Top or Submit.
- List Box
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This lets the respondent select from a list of given text choices.
- Combo Box
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This lets the respondent select 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 |
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Check Box | YES | YES | YES |
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Radio Button | YES | YES | YES |
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Text Field | YES | YES | YES |
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Signature Field | YES | -- | YES |
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Button | YES | -- | YES |
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List Box | YES | -- | YES |
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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.
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.
For more information, see Form preferences, and Form Controls panel.