Operation Manual

161
USING ACROBAT X STANDARD
Forms
Last updated 10/11/2011
Note: Fields are placed in the center of the page only the first time they’re pasted. Additional pasted fields are offset from
the previously pasted field.
Align and center multiple form fields
1 Select two or more form fields that you want to align.
2 Right-click the field to which you want to align the other fields. Choose Align, Distribute Or Center, and then
choose a command as follows:
• To align a column of fields, choose Align Left, Right, or Vertical. They align respectively to the left edge, right edge,
or vertical axis (center) of the anchor form field.
• To align a row of fields, choose Align Top, Bottom, or Horizontally. They align respectively to the top edge, bottom
edge, or horizontal axis (center) of the anchor form field.
• To center the fields, choose Center Vertically, Horizontally, or Both.
Note: When you right-click one of the selected fields, it shows the border handles, indicating that it’s the anchor form field.
The Align menu commands move the other selected form fields to line up with the edges of the anchor form field.
Adjust the spacing between form fields
In the context of laying out form fields on a page, distributing means to give a group of form fields uniform spacing,
measured from the centers of adjacent fields. The Distribute commands take precedence over the Snap To Grid
command.
1 Select the form fields that you want to adjust.
2 Right-click any one of the selected form fields, and do one of the following:
• To distribute the fields evenly between the topmost and bottommost fields, choose Align, Distribute Or Center >
Distribute Vertically.
• To distribute the fields evenly between the leftmost and rightmost fields, choose Align, Distribute Or Center >
Distribute Horizontally.
Note: The Distribute command in Tools > Forms has a different function. Use that command to send your form to others,
who fill in the information and return the data to you.
Delete a form field
1 In the Fields panel or the page view, select the form fields that you want to delete.
2 Press Delete, or choose Edit > Delete.
About barcodes
Barcode fields translate a user’s form entries into a visual pattern that can be scanned, interpreted, and incorporated
into a database. Barcodes are helpful when users submit the form on paper or by fax.
The advantages of using barcodes are that they save time, eliminate the need for responses to be manually read and
recorded, and bypass data-entry errors that can occur.
A typical barcode workflow includes the following phases:
• The form author makes sure that Automatically Calculate Field Values is selected in the forms preferences, and
then creates the form in Acrobat, setting up all the other fields as usual.
• The form author adds the barcode field to the form, setting up the barcode so that it captures the needed data.