PDF form completion

Hi

My electrical engineer has sent me a PDF form by email for me to
complete and return to him with data added.

I have saved the form on my Windows 10 laptop but cannot determine how I
can add data to the form and then email it back to him.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

--
Regards,
David B.

David_B wrote:
Hi

My electrical engineer has sent me a PDF form by email for me to
complete and return to him with data added.

I have saved the form on my Windows 10 laptop but cannot determine how I
can add data to the form and then email it back to him.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?


It depends to some extent on the type of form.

1) Home made form.

Someone places underline characters where the user
is supposed to enter their information. The intent is for
the user to print the form, and use a pen to enter the
information.

Solution: Use a third-party free PDF editor, to change the
underline characters to the desired keyboard-entered
text. Just about any program that claims to be a
PDF "editor" can fix text. But some of them are not
capable of touching other element types.

2) Form with Javascript validation boxes.

This accepts typed-in input, but also has some computer
code that runs to determine whether the format of what
was typed, was "fit for use". For example, a government
form might want 1970-Jan-01 for birthdate, and the Javascript
in the PDF can check for that.

Solution: The free Acrobat Reader ???

https://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/

3) Form with XFA.

This is an extension to PDF, not handled by a lot of
other tools. Probably impossible to deal with on Linux.

Solution: The free Acrobat Reader ???

https://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/

I don't even know if there's a good way to check what
kind of form it is. Windows 10 has the "Bash Shell",
which has the "file" command, and that can sniff
a .txt file, and give 100 different descriptions
of "what kind of text file it is'. It's possible
PDF files receive some minor descriptions like that
when you sniff those with the "file" command.

But that's about the only thing that comes to mind. I
don't know if regular PDF utilities actually label
documents according to how they were constructed
or not. The "Properties" might show what fonts
are used in the document, but I don't know if there
will be enough detail to figure out what you've got
or not. Even if you showed me a screenshot of the
form, I might not be able to get it 100% right as to
what it is.

So start with the free Acrobat Reader and see if
you can make any progress. And by then, someone
else will give the name of their favorite third-party
tool. But if it's an XFA (and the engineer probably
doesn't have the software to make one), filling that
out might have fewer options.

You can even pull a PDF into LibreOffice, or into
Microsoft Office. But that may defeat the plan the
engineer has for post-processing the form. You could
convert it to some other format while you fill it out.
But that's cheating.

Paul

On 11-Oct-17 10:15 AM, Paul wrote:
David_B wrote:
Hi

My electrical engineer has sent me a PDF form by email for me to
complete and return to him with data added.

I have saved the form on my Windows 10 laptop but cannot determine how
I can add data to the form and then email it back to him.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?


It depends to some extent on the type of form.

1) Home made form.

Â*Â* Someone places underline characters where the user
Â*Â* is supposed to enter their information. The intent is for
Â*Â* the user to print the form, and use a pen to enter the
Â*Â* information.

Â*Â* Solution: Use a third-party free PDF editor, to change the
Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* underline characters to the desired keyboard-entered
Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* text. Just about any program that claims to be a
Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* PDF "editor" can fix text. But some of them are not
Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* capable of touching other element types.

2) Form with Javascript validation boxes.

Â*Â* This accepts typed-in input, but also has some computer
Â*Â* code that runs to determine whether the format of what
Â*Â* was typed, was "fit for use". For example, a government
Â*Â* form might want 1970-Jan-01 for birthdate, and the Javascript
Â*Â* in the PDF can check for that.

Â*Â* Solution: The free Acrobat Reader ???

Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* https://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/

3) Form with XFA.

Â*Â* This is an extension to PDF, not handled by a lot of
Â*Â* other tools. Probably impossible to deal with on Linux.

Â*Â* Solution: The free Acrobat Reader ???

Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â*Â* https://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/

I don't even know if there's a good way to check what
kind of form it is. Windows 10 has the "Bash Shell",
which has the "file" command, and that can sniff
a .txt file, and give 100 different descriptions
of "what kind of text file it is'. It's possible
PDF files receive some minor descriptions like that
when you sniff those with the "file" command.

But that's about the only thing that comes to mind. I
don't know if regular PDF utilities actually label
documents according to how they were constructed
or not. The "Properties" might show what fonts
are used in the document, but I don't know if there
will be enough detail to figure out what you've got
or not. Even if you showed me a screenshot of the
form, I might not be able to get it 100% right as to
what it is.

So start with the free Acrobat Reader and see if
you can make any progress. And by then, someone
else will give the name of their favorite third-party
tool. But if it's an XFA (and the engineer probably
doesn't have the software to make one), filling that
out might have fewer options.

You can even pull a PDF into LibreOffice, or into
Microsoft Office. But that may defeat the plan the
engineer has for post-processing the form. You could
convert it to some other format while you fill it out.
But that's cheating.

Â*Â* Paul

Many thanks, Paul. :-)

I've now installed Adobe Reader and will see what I can achieve.

I'll let you know in due course.

David B.

David_B wrote:

On 11-Oct-17 10:15 AM, Paul wrote:
David_B wrote:
Hi

My electrical engineer has sent me a PDF form by email for me to
complete and return to him with data added.

I have saved the form on my Windows 10 laptop but cannot determine how
I can add data to the form and then email it back to him.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?


It depends to some extent on the type of form.

1) Home made form.

Someone places underline characters where the user
is supposed to enter their information. The intent is for
the user to print the form, and use a pen to enter the
information.

Solution: Use a third-party free PDF editor, to change the
underline characters to the desired keyboard-entered
text. Just about any program that claims to be a
PDF "editor" can fix text. But some of them are not
capable of touching other element types.

2) Form with Javascript validation boxes.

This accepts typed-in input, but also has some computer
code that runs to determine whether the format of what
was typed, was "fit for use". For example, a government
form might want 1970-Jan-01 for birthdate, and the Javascript
in the PDF can check for that.

Solution: The free Acrobat Reader ???

https://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/

3) Form with XFA.

This is an extension to PDF, not handled by a lot of
other tools. Probably impossible to deal with on Linux.

Solution: The free Acrobat Reader ???

https://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/

I don't even know if there's a good way to check what
kind of form it is. Windows 10 has the "Bash Shell",
which has the "file" command, and that can sniff
a .txt file, and give 100 different descriptions
of "what kind of text file it is'. It's possible
PDF files receive some minor descriptions like that
when you sniff those with the "file" command.

But that's about the only thing that comes to mind. I
don't know if regular PDF utilities actually label
documents according to how they were constructed
or not. The "Properties" might show what fonts
are used in the document, but I don't know if there
will be enough detail to figure out what you've got
or not. Even if you showed me a screenshot of the
form, I might not be able to get it 100% right as to
what it is.

So start with the free Acrobat Reader and see if
you can make any progress. And by then, someone
else will give the name of their favorite third-party
tool. But if it's an XFA (and the engineer probably
doesn't have the software to make one), filling that
out might have fewer options.

You can even pull a PDF into LibreOffice, or into
Microsoft Office. But that may defeat the plan the
engineer has for post-processing the form. You could
convert it to some other format while you fill it out.
But that's cheating.

Paul

Many thanks, Paul. :-)

I've now installed Adobe Reader and will see what I can achieve.

I'll let you know in due course.

David B.

Enter this in your browser:

form filling pdf free

I have used the Blueberry but not for several months.

Alan







--
Mageia 5.1 for x86_64, Kernel:4.4.82-desktop-1.mga5
KDE version 4.14.5 on an AMD Phenom II X4 Black edition.

On 10/11/2017 4:33 AM, David_B wrote:
Hi

My electrical engineer has sent me a PDF form by email for me to
complete and return to him with data added.

I have saved the form on my Windows 10 laptop but cannot determine how I
can add data to the form and then email it back to him.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

There is another way to make any PDF document a form. It involves using
the Adobe PDF reader and a PDF printer. (I assume other PDF readers
will allow comments)

In the document that you wish to add the information ie form. Open the
Tools sidebar and click Comments. This brings the Comments tool bar.
Click the T move the cursor to the place where you need to enter the
information in the form and type the information. You can change the
font, size, and color of the information you put in the form.

Once you have completed the form, you can save the form or print the
form. If you save the form the comments will be retained when you
reopen the document. However just saving the form will keep the data in
a dynamic form so it can be changed or deleted.

To make the comments (data you have entered) print the form using a PDF
printer. This will leave the comments where you put them and they will
be a permanent part of the document.





--
2017: The year we learn to play the great game of Euchre

Paul wrote:

You could
convert it to some other format while you fill it out.
But that's cheating.

Print it out, fill it in with crayon, scan/photograph it, convert to PDF!

On 11-Oct-17 1:36 PM, Keith Nuttle wrote:
On 10/11/2017 4:33 AM, David_B wrote:
Hi

My electrical engineer has sent me a PDF form by email for me to
complete and return to him with data added.

I have saved the form on my Windows 10 laptop but cannot determine how
I can add data to the form and then email it back to him.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

There is another way to make any PDF document a form.Â* It involves using
the Adobe PDF reader and a PDF printer.Â* (I assume other PDF readers
will allow comments)

In the document that you wish to add the information ie form.Â* Open the
Tools sidebar and click Comments.Â* This brings the Comments tool bar.
Click the T move the cursor to the place where you need to enter the
information in the form and type the information.Â*Â* You can change the
font, size, and color of the information you put in the form.

Once you have completed the form, you can save the form or print the
form.Â* If you save the form the comments will be retained when you
reopen the document.Â* However just saving the form will keep the data in
a dynamic form so it can be changed or deleted.

To make the comments (data you have entered) print the form using a PDF
printer.Â* This will leave the comments where you put them and they will
be a permanent part of the document.

Thanks Keith.

That's more or less what I've done. Sadly, I don't have a printer on my
narrowboat which is why I asked for guidance.

--
David B.

On 11-Oct-17 12:08 PM, Pinnerite wrote:
David_B wrote:

On 11-Oct-17 10:15 AM, Paul wrote:
David_B wrote:
Hi

My electrical engineer has sent me a PDF form by email for me to
complete and return to him with data added.

I have saved the form on my Windows 10 laptop but cannot determine how
I can add data to the form and then email it back to him.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?
[....]

Enter this in your browser:

form filling pdf free

I have used the Blueberry but not for several months.

Alan

Thanks, Alan. :-)

In article ,
says...
I have saved the form on my Windows 10 laptop but cannot determine how I
can add data to the form and then email it back to him.

I've filled in a couple of these pdf forms.

Before you start check that the pdf properties are not set to "read
only"

The data fields to fill in should be obvious and you just put the cursor
on them and type. When finished save the pdf and send it off.
At least that is how it has been for me.

Perhaps your engineer has botched the production of the editable pdf.



--
Ken

On 11-Oct-17 3:52 PM, UnsteadyKen wrote:
In article ,
says...
I have saved the form on my Windows 10 laptop but cannot determine how I
can add data to the form and then email it back to him.

I've filled in a couple of these pdf forms.

Before you start check that the pdf properties are not set to "read
only"

The data fields to fill in should be obvious and you just put the cursor
on them and type. When finished save the pdf and send it off.
At least that is how it has been for me.

Perhaps your engineer has botched the production of the editable pdf.

Thanks for the points you make, Ken.

This is what I managed to do - I found it less than easy to add the
data! ;-)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xqzedu4rwa...igned.pdf?dl=0

--
David B.

You have had several suggestions. I use the free version of PDF-Exchange,
https://www.tracker-software.com/
--
Bill

Brought to you from Anchorage, Alaska

"David_B" wrote in message
...
Hi

My electrical engineer has sent me a PDF form by email for me to complete
and return to him with data added.

I have saved the form on my Windows 10 laptop but cannot determine how I
can add data to the form and then email it back to him.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

--
Regards,
David B.

On 10/11/2017 10:26 AM, David_B wrote:
On 11-Oct-17 1:36 PM, Keith Nuttle wrote:
On 10/11/2017 4:33 AM, David_B wrote:
Hi

My electrical engineer has sent me a PDF form by email for me to
complete and return to him with data added.

I have saved the form on my Windows 10 laptop but cannot determine
how I can add data to the form and then email it back to him.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

There is another way to make any PDF document a form.Â* It involves
using the Adobe PDF reader and a PDF printer.Â* (I assume other PDF
readers will allow comments)

In the document that you wish to add the information ie form.Â* Open
the Tools sidebar and click Comments.Â* This brings the Comments tool
bar. Click the T move the cursor to the place where you need to enter
the information in the form and type the information.Â*Â* You can change
the font, size, and color of the information you put in the form.

Once you have completed the form, you can save the form or print the
form.Â* If you save the form the comments will be retained when you
reopen the document.Â* However just saving the form will keep the data
in a dynamic form so it can be changed or deleted.

To make the comments (data you have entered) print the form using a
PDF printer.Â* This will leave the comments where you put them and they
will be a permanent part of the document.

Thanks Keith.

That's more or less what I've done. Sadly, I don't have a printer on my
narrowboat which is why I asked for guidance.

There are many free PDF printers. These are used like a paper printer,
BUT instead of putting the document on paper it puts the printed
document into a PDF file, that can be used like any PDF file.

Windows 10 has a PDF print that comes as part of the install.

I used two PDF Printers, depending on what I am doing.

For simple prints I use CutePDFWriter.
http://www.cutepdf.com/Products/CutePDF/writer.asp
There are two parts so make sure you get the whole thing.

The other one I use is for more complex printing. Using it you can
print multiple documents from different sources into the same PDF file.
You can get SourceForge's PDF Creator
http://www.pdfforge.org/pdfcreator/download
I use version 1.7.3 as it does not have all of the Bells and whistles of
the later versions
http://software.downloadnp.com/2014/...ad-latest.html


From you comment I assume you live full time on the Narrowboat? Where
about in England?





--
2017: The year we learn to play the great game of Euchre

On Wed, 11 Oct 2017 15:26:47 +0100, David_B
wrote:

On 11-Oct-17 1:36 PM, Keith Nuttle wrote:
On 10/11/2017 4:33 AM, David_B wrote:
Hi

My electrical engineer has sent me a PDF form by email for me to
complete and return to him with data added.

I have saved the form on my Windows 10 laptop but cannot determine how
I can add data to the form and then email it back to him.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

There is another way to make any PDF document a form.* It involves using
the Adobe PDF reader and a PDF printer.* (I assume other PDF readers
will allow comments)

In the document that you wish to add the information ie form.* Open the
Tools sidebar and click Comments.* This brings the Comments tool bar.
Click the T move the cursor to the place where you need to enter the
information in the form and type the information.** You can change the
font, size, and color of the information you put in the form.

Once you have completed the form, you can save the form or print the
form.* If you save the form the comments will be retained when you
reopen the document.* However just saving the form will keep the data in
a dynamic form so it can be changed or deleted.

To make the comments (data you have entered) print the form using a PDF
printer.* This will leave the comments where you put them and they will
be a permanent part of the document.

Thanks Keith.

That's more or less what I've done. Sadly, I don't have a printer on my
narrowboat which is why I asked for guidance.

A "PDF printer" isn't a physical piece of hardware. After installation,
it shows up in your list of printers, and when you select it, anything
you "print" just goes to a new PDF file. It's possible that you already
have such a thing installed.

I use CutePDF as my PDF printer, but there are others. I think they all
work equally well.