Editable PDF files

[pontifex]

How do you make a PDF file that other people can edit, like a application form? I think the tax forms are in PDF format but you can edit them without having something like pagemaker or something similar.

 

[mryellow2]

I use acrobrat professional edition and there's an option under the "advanced" tab to create a form. It opens up another program called acrobat designer. It's pretty self-explanatory from there.

 

[WildHorse]

Just to add an alternative to Acrobat, there's also Foxit PDF Editor

And Foxit Reader Pro costs $39, compared to around $500 for Acrobat.


I hate .pdf, the way it ties up my computer, the way you can't do anything with documents in that format unless you buy an expensive application or else find some way to convert them to some different format. Hard to understand how Adobe was so succesful in convincing so many governmnt agencies, educational instutions & others to adopt .pdf.

 

[corkyg]

And, Corel WordPerfect X3 can create and edit PDF files.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: scott
Just to add an alternative to Acrobat, there's also Foxit PDF Editor Hard to understand how Adobe was so succesful in convincing so many governmnt agencies, educational instutions & others to adopt .pdf.

Not really - it's a very compact, flexible format; it's open to indexing, it's WYSIWYG, it's searchable, it's printable, has built in, efficient OCR.... I can continue with lots of reasons.

Foxit (and many others) is around because Adobe made the format ubiquitous by offering a free reader for years, and left the format available for others to build tools around. There's probably a license needed, but I'm doubtful it's very restrictive. As for being essentially uneditable, it's not meant for editing - it's meant to be portable... read freely by anyone anywhere; it was designed for the print industry to be able to send virtual proofs to people who needed to view them in high resolution without loading fonts or rasterizing everything. Acrobat is not an editing application. It's like being upset about how hard nails are to put into a board with a screwdriver - it's not the right tool for the job.

As for the OP's question, use the Forms tools. Their location varies depending on your version of Acrobat, but in 7.0 pro there's a pallette for them in Tools->Advanced Editing. Designer's also available (as a part of Acrobat Pro) but can be a couple degrees of overkill with a learning curve attached if you're not trying to do anything terribly complex.

Feel free to PM me if you like, I might be able to give you some additional guidance.

 

[pontifex]

i downloaded the trial version of acrobat and got it fixed up.

 

[shortylickens]

It was successful because the industry wanted a format that the average person could read easily and free (Adobe Reader) but not edit unless they were really motivated to do so (Acrobat).

What I dont get is why programs like Form Maker are still floating around. Its an expensive program too and I dont think the industry needed a new format when an existing one could already do the job.