I created a form and sent to customers where once they open the form and fill it out all they have to do is click on the submit button, which comes back to me via email in XML format.
The format is the problem . I have to save each form, go to Adobe Acrobate select manag form - merge data files into spreadsheet to get the information, which I then have to decipher 1000 Elmwood Avenue
Rochester
FROM THE OTHER -- is there a way to save the answers to the form that I created so that the fields will populate automatically without having to go through the trouble of merging the data into a spreadsheet?
First your question really has two parts. One is the creation of your PDF in Livecycle in the first place. If you are importing a word doc many of the fields will set up with the same column names as the imput lines like Name, Address, and the like but depending on how your word file was written some of these names can confusing or even left off. Plus if you add some of your own inside of Livecycle they could just have the genric titles of TextField 1 and so on giving you a spreadsheet of information that requires more work or a Rosetta Stone to figure out.
While still in Lifecycle when you are on a field that has the object tabs active go to the Binding tab to see what the column name will be and make it clear at that time with names like address2, title, idea1, and the like. (Remember that you can't place spaces in this area so if needed use the underscore _ for spaces.)
So here is the part you may not like. You might have to back are rework the PDF to have this done. Depending on how many forms you sent out you might want to do this or just wait for the next update.
So to the part of the question you will like. When you create a PDF that is to sent out and info retrieve if you set it up as a Distributed Form you create both a PDF that you send out and a file that when the info comes back looks like a spread sheet at the top but has each PDF there too filled out and that if needed could be printed out. (Though in my mind defeats the whole paperless office workflow but for some bankers and lawyers they still love the paperwork.)
You mentioned that when the forms are coming back they are in the XML format which tells me that you did not create a true distributed form. These are normally copies of the PDF with pub in the file name. When they come back you just have to click on them for these to imported in the Data file. However if you did create a Data file you can import these XML forms into the Data set file and see the information as I said.
Bill Guy