Creating fillable text fields in InDesign

[Visual77]

I searched through the first 11 pages of the forum and didn't see any titles that appeared to relate to my question, so if there was something that I missed, I apologize.

I create a lot of fillable .pdf forms for my company, but they have always been a pain for me. The typical cycle goes:

Create document in InDesign
Export to PDF
Open PDF in Acrobat and add text fields, check boxes, radio buttons, etc.
Find out about a revision later that day
Revise in InDesign
Export to PDF
Open PDF in Acrobat and re-add text fields, check boxes, radio buttons, etc.
Repeat ad naseum

You can see a clear flaw in this work flow. I have to keep re-adding the stuff in Acrobat everytime a revision is made. I've got it someone streamlined by saving under different file names and just copying the old stuff into the new, but since I have to select text fields differently from check boxes differently from radio buttons, it's still a pain. Stack that onto the revisions often rearranging some elements and it's just a chore.

Is there any way to add these fillable fields in InDesign and just skip the Acrobat step?

 

[jmgalvin]

Id can do a little pdf interactive stuff, but I don't think that it will do all you want. That's basically because it's a print design app.

Take a look at help and search "interactive' and also "buttons". Some of this stuff lets viewers navigate pdfs etc.

Don't think it will completely solve your problem but it might cut down on some of teh repetitveness.

Using OSX 10.3.9 on a G4

 

[nicksims]

How complicated are these forms? Simple one page (or just a few pages) doc's? Just entering text? Any calculations?

I've used Word to create simple doc's like this with some decent success. Then the form can be locked and uneditable by the user except of course for the entry fields that they can tab through.

I can describe further if it would help.

Nick

 

[Visual77]

I know what you're talking about in Word, I've done the same thing in the past, but I need these as .pdfs, not .docs.

The entry fields are very simple, just single or multi line text fields, some check boxes and some radio buttons, no calculations whatsoever. These are things like new employee setup sheets or something along those lines.

Thanks for replying, though, didn't except anything this quickly.