FAQ - How Do I Collect Data from a Form with Just the Free Reader

Problem
How Do I Collect Data from a Form for recipients with just the Free Reader?
 
Solution
This solution varies by product version.
 
Acrobat 8 Pro. and all versions of Acrobat 9
Data from a PDF form can be collected with the free Reader (7.0.5 or higher) if it is Reader-enabled or by using the Distribute Form feature in Acrobat 8 Pro. or any version of Acrobat 9.
 
Acrobat 6 or 7 Professional
Data from a PDF form can be collected with the free Reader if you add an email submit button or web submit button. The web submit option requires the pdf form to be submitted in a browser to a Web server and some form of script, or application, must be on the Web server to collect and route the data to another location, such as a database. For more information on how to collect form data via a Web server visit the following URL: http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewCon … ;sliceId=2
 
* First step - Adding an email submit button to a form
If you don't have Acrobat 8 Pro, and you want to collect data with the free Reader via email, you can add an email submit button to the form to collect the data. To use the email submit method, you can either post your form on the web or email a copy of the PDF. If you choose to email the PDF, you can use the Acrobat 7 Pro. feature "Initiate Form Data Collection Workflow" to assist in the process of gathering the form data. Note, Adobe Reader 7 is needed by the the people who will fill out the form to use this feature. Older versions of Reader can be used as well, but do not come with a 'form-submit' wizard. To create a submit button (these instruction are taken from Acrobat 7 Pro. Help file at 'Creating Adobe PDF forms> Making Adobe PDF forms web-ready:
1. On the Forms toolbar, select the Button tool, and create a button.
2. Double-click the button to open the Button Properties dialog box.
3. Click the Actions tab, and select Mouse Up from the Select Trigger menu.
4.Select Submit a Form from the Select Action menu, and then click Add.
5.In the Submit Form Selections dialog box, add the following in the Enter A URL For This Link box: mailto: followed by the email address. For example, mailto:[email protected].
6. Select an Export Format option. Note that there are quite a few options to choose from here. To keep things simple stick to FDF. DO NOT choose PDF, as this will submit the entire pdf which is not possible when using the Reader to fill out and submit the form.
7.For Field Selection, do one of the following:
- To export all form fields even if the form fields do not contain values, select All Fields.
- To export only specific form fields, select Only These. Click Select Fields, and then indicate the form fields to include, and whether you want to include empty fields.
8.Select Convert Dates To Standard Format to export all form dates in a single format, no matter how they are entered in the form.
9. Click OK to accept the selections.
10.Click another tab in the Button Properties dialog box to continue defining properties for the button, or click Close.
 
* What happens next when a user clicks the email submit button in your form?
This depends on what kind of email client your user is using, either a desktop client such as Outlook or Eudora, or a web-based client such as Yahoo or Hotmail. In addition, the user can also choose to submit the data at a later time. The following information is taken the Acrobat 7 Help manual chapter Filling in Adobe PDF forms> emailing completed forms.
To submit a PDF form with a desktop email application:
1. After you've filled in the PDF form, click the submit or return form button on the PDF form.
2. In the Select Email Client dialog box, select Desktop Email Application; then click OK.
3. In the Send Data File dialog box, click Print Form if you want a copy of the filled-in form; then click Send Data File.
Your default email application displays a new email message with the To, Subject, Body, and Attachment fields automatically filled in.
4. Use your email application to send the email.
5. Click Close in the Email Confirmation dialog box in Acrobat.
 
To submit a PDF form with a web-based email service:
1. Click the submit or return form button on the PDF form. If the form fields are blank, the Email A Blank Copy Of This Form dialog box appears; click Email A Blank Copy.
2. In the Select Email Client dialog box, select Internet Email; then click OK.
3. In the Sending The Data File dialog box, click Save Data File.
4. In the Save Data File dialog box, choose a location on your computer to save the file; then click Save.
5.Open a new browser window, log in to your web-based email service, and use your service to create a new blank email.
6. In the Sending the Data File dialog box in Acrobat, select the value in the To field; then right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) and choose Copy.
7. In your blank email message in your Internet email service, click in the To field, and paste the data you copied. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for the Subject and Message Text fields.
8. Use your Internet email service to attach the data file (that you saved in step 4) to your email message.
9. If you want a copy of the filled-in form, click Print Form in the Sending The Data File dialog box in Acrobat.
10. Click Close in the Sending The Data File dialog box.
 
To submit a PDF form at a different time:
1. Click the Submit or Return Form button on the PDF form. If the form fields are blank, the Email A Blank Copy Of This Form dialog box appears; click Email A Blank Copy.
2. In the Select Email Client dialog box, select Other, and then click OK.
3. In the Sending The Data File dialog box, click Save Data File.
4. In the Save Data File dialog box, choose a location on your computer to save the file; then click Save.
5. Write down the values that appear in the To, Subject, and Message Text fields so you can use them later when you want to email the form data.
6. If you want a copy of the filled-in form, click Print Form in the Sending The Data File dialog box in Acrobat.
7. Click Close in the Sending The Data File dialog box.
8. When you want to submit the PDF form, create a new email message in your email application. Enter the To, Subject, and Message Text values that you wrote down in step 5. Use your email application to attach the data file that you saved in step 4; then send the email.
 
* The final step in the process -- collecting the form data in Acrobat Pro.
At this point you should be getting emails with fdf attachments. What can you do with these attachments? The following instructions come from the Acrobat Help manual chapters Filling in Adobe PDF Forms> Importing form data and Collecting data from submitted forms.
 
There are 2 options available which one you choose depends on what you want to do with the data:
1. You can import the form data back into the empty pdf form. Each data set you receive must be imported into it's own pdf. You cannot import all data into one pdf. So if you get 10 sets of data back, this will result in 10 different pdf files.
2. You can also create a spreadsheet from the form data. Following are the instructions on how to create a spreadsheet from the form data. Instructions for manually importing form data into an empty form pdf are in the next post.
 
To organize form data into a spreadsheet:
1. Choose File > Form Data > Create Spreadsheet From Data Files.
2. If you want to automatically include all forms and form data that you've previously added to the Data Files list, select Include Most Recent List Of Files To Export Data From.
3. Click Add Files, select one or more files that have an .xml, .fdf, .pdf, or .xfdf file name extension, and then click Select. Repeat this step if you want to add more files to the list.
4. If you want to remove a file from the list, select the file, and click Remove Files.
5. Click Create Spreadsheet.
6. Select a location on your computer to save the spreadsheet, and then click Save. The Create Spreadsheet dialog box displays "Done" when Acrobat has created the spreadsheet.
7. If you want to open the spreadsheet file in your default spreadsheet application, click View File Now; otherwise, click Close The Dialog.