For some unknown reason, the "Clear Form" command is missing from Adobe (Acrobat) Reader, so I created this script to put it into the application. Simply download this free tool from this link, follow the instructions file and a new menu item will appear under the Edit menu, allowing you to reset all the fields in the current file to their default values with a single click!
This tool is a companion to my Convert Wingdings Characters to Check-Boxes or Radio-Buttons tool, only this one identifies sequences of two or more underscore ("_") character in a file (using any font) and places text fields on top of them, with 100% accuracy.
When creating their forms in Word, many people like to use the Wingdings characters for their form fields, such as radio-buttons and check-boxes. They are easier to move around and control, compared to graphic elements, because they are simply textual symbols. The problem begins when you convert your file to PDF and want to convert them to PDF form fields. Acrobat does not always identify these symbols as form fields, and when it does, it doesn't always assign them the correct form type: Check-boxes can become text fields and radio-buttons can become check-boxes... Which means you then have to make a lot of manual adjustments to get them working correctly.
Some versions of Adobe Reader contain buttons labeled "Import Data" and "Export Data" for forms, but they are permanently grayed-out, unless the creator of the file applied a very special (and very expensive) right to it before distributing it. If you wish to still gain access to this functionality (even if your version doesn't have these "ghost" buttons), but not lose an arm and a leg in the process, the solution is now available!
This new handy tool is perfect for translators who work with PDF files. If your file contains form fields then you probably want to translate the tooltip text that appears when the user hovers over your fields. So how to do it? Well, the solution is this new script I've developed that allows you to export the full list of tooltips to a text file which can be edited in Excel and then imported back into the PDF, quickly and easily.
One of the most annoying tasks when creating PDF forms is to rename many form fields in a single go. Acrobat doesn't offer the means of doing it automatically and doing it with a script can be a pain because it requires removing the old field and then creating a new one in its place with the new field name. Because of this I've decided to develop a standalone application that can do it quickly and easily.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) developed a type of barcode it uses to easily identify addresses in the US, called Intelligent Mail Barcode (or IMB). This barcode symbology is composed out of 65 vertical bars, based on a set of 31 (or possibly less) digits, which represent the Barcode identifier, Service type identifier, Mailer ID, Sequence number and finally the Delivery point ZIP code.
One of the most frequent tasks of form editing in Acrobat is to change the properties of a lot of fields all at the same time. Who hasn't created a form and then wanted to change the font associated with all of the text fields once it was done? Or set them as required? Or change the border color of your combo-boxes, for example? The only way to do it is by finding and selecting all of these fields manually, which can be very difficult if you have a large file with many fields.
This new tool is similar to my Acrobat -- Create Dependent Dropdowns tool, but it offers a more powerful functionality: Using it you can create a set of "cascading" drop-down fields, where the selection in the first field filters the values of the second field, which in turn filters the values in the third field, etc.
The option to duplicate fields in Acrobat is very useful, but not so much when it comes to groups of radio-buttons or check-boxes. It's not possible to generate new groups of these fields, so you have to either duplicate an individual field, and then rename and set the options for all the copies, or manually copy&paste your group (and then rename it as well)... This is why I've developed this new tool, which will make creating new groups of fields very easy and convenient. No more renaming required. No more changing the options for each group so they work the same. It's an easy and fast process.
Working with very long drop-downs can be a handful, especially since you can't set the size of the drop-down menu that opens. A much easier approach is to use a "live" filter, similar to the Google Auto-Suggest feature, where you start to type the text that you want to look for, and a menu pops-up appears with the relevant options. Up until now this was not possible to do in a PDF, but now it is!
Using this handy tool you can easily change the check style of all the radio-buttons or check-boxes in a file with a single click of the mouse.
If you're working with Acrobat form fields and need to insert a large amount of items to a drop-down menu field (also known as a combo-box), you know what a pain it can be to manually enter all of those values. Well, with this script you can just put all of your items (name and export value, or just name) in a text file or even an Excel spreadsheet and the script will read them and add them to your drop-down box.
One of the most common tasks when working with date fields is to automatically apply a certain data calculation to a field. For example, you want to have a field with today's date, and then one that automatically shows 4 days after from that date, or 2 weeks or a month, or something similar. This is usually quite complex and time consuming to implement, but no longer... Using this new tool I've created you can easily select your initial field, the amount of time to add (or subtract!) from it, the target field, the date format to use, and you can even specify to the script to ignore weekends (Saturday and Sunday) or to specify a list of holidays to ignore (this can be useful when calculating working days, for example).
Similar to my Search & Replace Text in Bookmarks script, you can use this new script to search and replace the text in all the text fields in a single file, and if you have Acrobat Pro you can run this as an Action (AKA Batch Sequence) on multiple files, all for the low price of just $25!
There is an unfortunate change made to the way the stamps menu works in Acrobat X. While in previous versions the name of the stamp appeared in the Stamps menu underneath the stamp image, in Acrobat X it is gone. If you have multiple stamps with similar looks it is now very difficult to distinguish between them because of this new behavior (bug?).
This script allows you to define a list of "forbidden" words which the users are not allowed to fill in the form fields in your PDF file. The list can either be imported from a text file, or it can be entered manually.
If you have important areas in your PDF file that you want for the user to be able to easily zoom in and out to, this is the tool for you. Using it you can convert standard form field buttons to "zoom areas" that will zoom in when clicked, and return to the original view when clicked again. You can specify the zoom level to be used, or use the default level of 200%.
If you've ever created forms in Acrobat then you've probably encountered the frustrating inability to set multiple fields to have the same Format settings. When you select multiple fields and go to their Properties, the Format tab is simply not there, which means you have to edit each one manually, an exhausting and time-wasting process.
There are many instances where you might want to have dependent dropdowns (or combo-boxes, as they're sometimes called) in your PDF form, to provide the users of the form with a limited set of pre-defined option to choose from. This can be, for example, a set of clients and contact people, or a set of product categories and specific products, or even a list of countries and then cities within each country.
Sometimes when working with a complex PDF form you want to have an indication of where each field is located. A printed copy of the form with the name of each field placed next to it can be a useful tool for that purpose, which is exactly what this tool does.
This script which lets you select a field, enter the page range to which to duplicate it, and then continues to make unique copies of the fields, so no renaming is necessary!
Placing form fields in Acrobat can sometimes be a challenge, especially if you want to achieve precise results, which is why I created this tool.
This script can be used to display all of the form data in the file in Adobe Reader. The output is in plain text, which can be easily copied to another application.
Acrobat's built-in dialog for setting the Field Calculation Order can be a real hassle. The only options in it are to move a field up or down the list, so if you have a document with a lot of fields that needs to be ordered properly, it can take ages.
Get field dimensions within a PDf document.
This script can be used to mass set a validation script for multiple form fields in your document, namely a validation for a number field of a lower and/or higher limit.
If you want to keep track of the different form fields in your PDF, this is the tool for you. It will create a text report with all of the fields names, types, and other properties you might be interested in.
Create a live word count on a form field or input in Acrobat.
Create multiple form fields at once. Auto-generate form fields in acrobat.
Quickly convert form field types with this simple script.
This tool allows you to set-up one of the most commonly requested features in PDF forms, a drop-down field that populates other fields with data when a selection is made it in.
With this script you can automatically calculate the time difference between a starting hour and an ending one. Sum up all times to a final piece.
Automatically fill in data in your PDF files, merge them into one convenient folder, then email the respective recipients the attached file.
