How to Make a Fillable PDF

The Portable Document Format, more commonly known as PDF, was created by Adobe Systems as a cross-platform file format that embeds text, fonts and graphics and composes those elements as a 2D image that allows consistent viewing of PDF documents. Editing a PDF, or creating forms, could only be accomplished using Adobe Acrobat until 2008, when Adobe made PDF an open standard.

Instructions

1. Design your form in a word processor program. Microsoft Word and OpenOffice are two of the most popular word processors. OpenOffice is a free alternative to Word. Both have templates you can base your forms on or you can create them from scratch.

2. Open a PDF editing program. Adobe Acrobat and NitroPDF are two of the programs that have form creation tools. Go to the "File" menu and open your word processor document.

3. Drag a box around the areas of your form (the fields) where you want a user to be able to fill in information. Customize each of your form fields from the dialogue box that appears after each field is created. Set the colors and borders as well as any actions you want to occur when a user fills out your form.

4. Save your form as a PDF file that can now be opened and edited in any application capable of writing to a PDF file.

References

• The DesignCubicle.com: How to Design an Interactive Form in Adobe Acrobat
• Nitro.com: How to Create and Edit PDF Forms

Resources

• Nitro.com: Acrobat Alternative PDF Software