How do I make editable PDF forms using Excel? Haplo 12.07.2006 23:26:01 First off let me say I apologize for not keeping my Microsoft Office skills up to par. I just spent a few hours making a very nice-looking, printable member registration form using Excel. Unfortunately, I now want to be able to convert it to PDF, and make it so that the answer fields are editable in the PDF. ...but don't see how. Is there a way to do that using Excel? (I suppose my first problem is that I need help inserting editable form fields into excel worksheets? It seems to me I used to be able to do that, but I have completely forgotten to do that. I can in Word...but copying and pasting to Word only ruins my otherwise lovely registration form. Should I be 'exporting' or something?). Thanks

Re: How do I make editable PDF forms using Excel? Gord Dibben <gorddibbATshawDOTca> 12.07.2006 23:49:09 Haplo You may be chasing after something not attainable. I don't know if PDF files can have editable fields or not, but don't think so. Hope I'm proved wrong, I'd like to know how. Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 16:26:01 -0700, Haplo <Haplo[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: [Quoted Text] >First off let me say I apologize for not keeping my Microsoft Office skills >up to par. I just spent a few hours making a very nice-looking, printable >member registration form using Excel. Unfortunately, I now want to be able to >convert it to PDF, and make it so that the answer fields are editable in the >PDF. ...but don't see how. Is there a way to do that using Excel? (I suppose >my first problem is that I need help inserting editable form fields into >excel worksheets? It seems to me I used to be able to do that, but I have >completely forgotten to do that. I can in Word...but copying and pasting to >Word only ruins my otherwise lovely registration form. Should I be >'exporting' or something?). > >Thanks >

Re: How do I make editable PDF forms using Excel? JLatham 13.07.2006 11:51:02 To do this you would need the full Adobe Acrobat package. The Acrobat editor in it does permit adding editable fields to a .pdf document. Unlike the Acrobat Reader the full package is not free. I don't think free alternatives for turning documents into .pdf format have that feature. Acrobat's 'fields' are robust enough for most work - accepting text, dates, or numeric information which you have some control over. You can even do some Excel-like calculations between them although it is very "expensive". I once set up a document that was required to be in .pdf format and used a few hundred 'cells' and the file size was so huge I couldn't send it anywhere as an email attachment! I keep noticing that the Office 2007 package has .pdf support, but to be honest, I haven't looked it yet, so don't know what its capabilities or limitations are. I suspect that it is probably like the free offerings - you can turn things into uneditable .pdf documents for distribution. Haplo - you may be thinking of the fields you can place onto a sheet or UserForm from the Forms menu bar: View : Toolbars : Forms. But I think once you turn it into .pdf those are going to be non-editable. If you get desperate for it, and if there aren't too many fields beyond the basic name, address, phone number, email address, I'd be willing to assist. I have Adobe Acrobat Pro, versions 6 and 7, and if you'd be willing to send the Excel file as an email attachment to 2kmaro-at-dslr-dot-net, I'd try to help. But you should be warned also that there are limitations on doing the edits - you pretty much have to print at the time of edit. Mind is fuzzy here - I don't use Acrobat that often - but I'm thinking that you can't save the document with the changes/entries made. They exist only while the document is open. Seems there may be around this, but it doesn't immediately come to mind. Well, I know one way, but it requires using the editor to enter your information and obviously all of your recipients are not going to just have a $200 software package laying around to handle the once-a-year need. "Gord Dibben" wrote: [Quoted Text] > Haplo > > You may be chasing after something not attainable. > > I don't know if PDF files can have editable fields or not, but don't think so. > > Hope I'm proved wrong, I'd like to know how. > > > Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP > > On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 16:26:01 -0700, Haplo <Haplo[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> > wrote: > > >First off let me say I apologize for not keeping my Microsoft Office skills > >up to par. I just spent a few hours making a very nice-looking, printable > >member registration form using Excel. Unfortunately, I now want to be able to > >convert it to PDF, and make it so that the answer fields are editable in the > >PDF. ...but don't see how. Is there a way to do that using Excel? (I suppose > >my first problem is that I need help inserting editable form fields into > >excel worksheets? It seems to me I used to be able to do that, but I have > >completely forgotten to do that. I can in Word...but copying and pasting to > >Word only ruins my otherwise lovely registration form. Should I be > >'exporting' or something?). > > > >Thanks > > > >

RE: How do I make editable PDF forms using Excel? JLatham 13.07.2006 12:02:01 Haplo, Having given the bad news about Excel and turning it into editable .pdf form a moment ago, let me offer a work-around. If you can get a screen shot of your Excel registration form, you can save that as a .gif or .jpg and then insert it into a Word document as a picture from file. Then format the picture to be Behind Text. Then set up the fields on top of the picture in appropriate locations so that it appears to the user like a .pdf with editable fields. By the way, this trick works in Access reports also. There are some good tools for grabbing such screen shots. One free one that I've always liked is PrintKey 2000 v5.10 available for download at http://www.webtree.ca/newlife/printkey_info.htm that's the last free version of that program. Another excellent free one is IrfanView available from www.irfanview.com and if you want to get a great one and are willing to pay, I recommend SnagIt from www.TechSmith.com "Haplo" wrote: [Quoted Text] > First off let me say I apologize for not keeping my Microsoft Office skills > up to par. I just spent a few hours making a very nice-looking, printable > member registration form using Excel. Unfortunately, I now want to be able to > convert it to PDF, and make it so that the answer fields are editable in the > PDF. ...but don't see how. Is there a way to do that using Excel? (I suppose > my first problem is that I need help inserting editable form fields into > excel worksheets? It seems to me I used to be able to do that, but I have > completely forgotten to do that. I can in Word...but copying and pasting to > Word only ruins my otherwise lovely registration form. Should I be > 'exporting' or something?). > > Thanks > >

RE: How do I make editable PDF forms using Excel? Haplo 15.07.2006 21:52:01 thanks for the help. I will try the screenshot workaround as it seems like the closest thing to what we want. I'm not sure why we don't have Adobe Pro (we have Adobe Standard) because clearly we want the extra functionality. Oh well. Thank you very much for the advice! Haplo. "JLatham" wrote: [Quoted Text] > Haplo, > Having given the bad news about Excel and turning it into editable .pdf form > a moment ago, let me offer a work-around. > > If you can get a screen shot of your Excel registration form, you can save > that as a .gif or .jpg and then insert it into a Word document as a picture > from file. Then format the picture to be Behind Text. Then set up the > fields on top of the picture in appropriate locations so that it appears to > the user like a .pdf with editable fields. By the way, this trick works in > Access reports also. > > There are some good tools for grabbing such screen shots. One free one that > I've always liked is PrintKey 2000 v5.10 available for download at > http://www.webtree.ca/newlife/printkey_info.htm that's the last free version > of that program. Another excellent free one is IrfanView available from > www.irfanview.com and if you want to get a great one and are willing to pay, > I recommend SnagIt from www.TechSmith.com > > > "Haplo" wrote: > > > First off let me say I apologize for not keeping my Microsoft Office skills > > up to par. I just spent a few hours making a very nice-looking, printable > > member registration form using Excel. Unfortunately, I now want to be able to > > convert it to PDF, and make it so that the answer fields are editable in the > > PDF. ...but don't see how. Is there a way to do that using Excel? (I suppose > > my first problem is that I need help inserting editable form fields into > > excel worksheets? It seems to me I used to be able to do that, but I have > > completely forgotten to do that. I can in Word...but copying and pasting to > > Word only ruins my otherwise lovely registration form. Should I be > > 'exporting' or something?). > > > > Thanks > > > >

RE: How do I make editable PDF forms using Excel? JLatham 15.07.2006 23:09:01 How odd, I just mentioned "Pro" because it happens to be the product version that I myself own and that we have where I work. I didn't realize that the Standard version doesn't have that ability. Just went to the Adobe site and did a product feature comparison and lo and behold, you can't do what I was thinking of until you get to the Pro version. At least the MSRP upgrade price is 'only' $159, and you can probably get it cheaper on line somewhere like BuyCheapSoftware.com or AtomicPark.com You might look at this page: http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=6168879/search=adobe+acrobat+professional and get an idea of available pricing. Some of the vendors listed on that page that I know from personal experience to be reputable (not saying any of the others aren't, but I haven't bought from all of them) are AtomicPark, PageComputer, NewEgg, TechOnWeb, TigerDirect, BuyCheapSoftware, and the national names, of course. The best price there is from RoyalDiscount.com at $140, and I would expect them to be reputable since they are a "featured merchant" at Pricegrabber. But you could double-check them at ResellerRatings.com to see about quality of service overall. "Haplo" wrote: [Quoted Text] > thanks for the help. > I will try the screenshot workaround as it seems like the closest thing to > what we want. I'm not sure why we don't have Adobe Pro (we have Adobe > Standard) because clearly we want the extra functionality. Oh well. > > Thank you very much for the advice! > > Haplo. > > "JLatham" wrote: > > > Haplo, > > Having given the bad news about Excel and turning it into editable .pdf form > > a moment ago, let me offer a work-around. > > > > If you can get a screen shot of your Excel registration form, you can save > > that as a .gif or .jpg and then insert it into a Word document as a picture > > from file. Then format the picture to be Behind Text. Then set up the > > fields on top of the picture in appropriate locations so that it appears to > > the user like a .pdf with editable fields. By the way, this trick works in > > Access reports also. > > > > There are some good tools for grabbing such screen shots. One free one that > > I've always liked is PrintKey 2000 v5.10 available for download at > > http://www.webtree.ca/newlife/printkey_info.htm that's the last free version > > of that program. Another excellent free one is IrfanView available from > > www.irfanview.com and if you want to get a great one and are willing to pay, > > I recommend SnagIt from www.TechSmith.com > > > > > > "Haplo" wrote: > > > > > First off let me say I apologize for not keeping my Microsoft Office skills > > > up to par. I just spent a few hours making a very nice-looking, printable > > > member registration form using Excel. Unfortunately, I now want to be able to > > > convert it to PDF, and make it so that the answer fields are editable in the > > > PDF. ...but don't see how. Is there a way to do that using Excel? (I suppose > > > my first problem is that I need help inserting editable form fields into > > > excel worksheets? It seems to me I used to be able to do that, but I have > > > completely forgotten to do that. I can in Word...but copying and pasting to > > > Word only ruins my otherwise lovely registration form. Should I be > > > 'exporting' or something?). > > > > > > Thanks > > > > > >