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PDFill: PDF Form Filler
Adobe PDF form is an electronic-based form, resembling a traditional
paper form that can collect data from a user and then send that data via email
or the Web. But, Adobe reader may not let you save your filing. With PDFill,
you can fill and save your editing into a new PDF. This figure shows the
toolbar that is similar to Adobe Reader so that you will have no problem to use
PDFill!
1.
Comparison between PDFill PDF Editor and Adobe
Reader
2.
How to Fill out PDF form using PDFill
3. Edit Current Form Field or Entire Form Fields
4. Delete Current Form Field or Entire Form Field
5.
Exporting and importing form data
6. AutoFill List for PDF Form Fields
7.
Batch (DOS) Command Support
1. Comparison between PDFill
PDF Editor and FREE Adobe Reader:
| Features |
PDFill PDF
Editor |
Adobe Reader |
| View PDF |
Yes |
Yes |
| Fill Interactive Form Field |
Yes |
Yes |
| Print Form Field |
Yes |
Yes |
| Save PDF Form
|
Yes |
Most of PDF Form cannot be saved
|
| Resume editing later |
Yes |
Most of PDF Form will lose the data
if you exit adobe reader |
| Email the edited PDF to some
body else |
Yes |
Most of PDF Form cannot be emailed |
| Type Styled Text into PDF,
especially when there is no Form Field inside PDF Form |
Yes |
No |
| Insert Image (such as scanned
image, signature) into PDF |
Yes |
No |
| Insert URL |
Yes |
No |
| Insert Whiteout to cover the
original content |
Yes |
No |
| Insert Highlight to highlight
some text |
Yes |
No |
| Edit the Font Style of a Form
Field |
Yes
|
No |
| Add Form Field if there is
missing field |
Yes |
No |
| Move a Form Field |
Yes |
No |
| Delete Form Field
|
Yes |
No |
| Flatten Form Fields |
Yes |
No |
| Adding Password to protect
your filling |
Yes |
No |
| Set PDF Information or View
Preference |
Yes |
No |
| Delete extra PDF page |
Yes |
No |
|
Insert Drawings
( Line, Arrow, Rectangle, Circle ...) |
Yes |
No |
|
Insert
Commenting and annotation |
Yes |
No |
The appearance may be different from that of Adobe Reader.
But the filled values will be filled into the
original PDF file.
Field Types of File attachment and Signature is not support
this time. It will be supported in the future PDFill
version.
2.
How to fill out your form:
Select
 from
Format toolbar. If it is not selected, clicking it more
will select it. Now, you are in selection state and can
not insert new objects.
Position the pointer inside a form field,
and then click it. The I-beam pointer allows you to type
text. If your pointer appears as a pointing finger, you
can select a check box or a radio button.
After entering text or making a selection, do one of the
following to deselect the current
field:
-
Click another form field
-
Click the area
that has no field
-
Press Escape to accept the form
field change
Use
TAB to select next object or SHIFT+TAB to select
previous object.
3.
Edit Current Form Field or Entire Form Fields
|
Make Current
Original Form Field Editable |
Make
current original text form field editable to have a new
font name, size, style, and color. Press "F4" to see its
properties. |
|
Make All
Original Text Fields Editable |
Make
entire original text form fields editable to have a new
font name, size, style, and color. |
|
Make Entire Original
Fields Editable |
Make
entire original fields editable to have a new
font name, size, style, and color. |
4.
Delete Current Form Field or Entire Form Fields
|
Delete Current Object |
Delete the current
selected PDF Form object.
PDF form field from the original form can be deleted.
There are other ways:
Move
the cursor to the shadow area and then click the right
mouse button, select "Delete Current Object" from the pop
up menu; Press “Ctrl + D” to delete the current
object. Press key "Delete". |
|
Delete all Original Form
Fields |
Delete the
Original
interactive Form so that you can type onto the PDF page
just as you use the typewriter.
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5.
Exporting and importing form data
It is FREE to
Export the forma data into a Text or Excel file.
You can ask your client to export the forma data and email to you!
Export:
You can export the form data to a
Tab-separated text file, Microsoft Excel File or FDF File. Exporting form data
lets you save the existing data, which you can then send via email or the
Internet. The exported file will be considerably smaller than the original PDF
file.
Inside the exported text file, there is a table. In each row, there
are only two columns. The left column is the form field name while the right
column is the corresponding value. The name and value is separated by TAB in
TXT/XLS format or by comma in CSA format. Each row is separated by a new line.
When outputting, the new line char in a multiple-line text form field will be
replaced by two chars “\n”. The single char “\” will be replaced by “\\”. Here
is the example:
(Form Field Name) (Tab)
(Form Field Value) (New Line Char)
|
First Name
|
Bill
|
|
Last Name
|
Gates
|
|
Address
|
Microsoft Corporation\n One Microsoft Way\n Redmond, WA
98052-6399
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To export form data into a file:
-
Open the a PDF form by PDFill
-
Fill
it out inside PDFill.
-
Choose File Menu > Import/Export Forms Data>Click
Export into a Text File.
-
Specify a location and filename, and then click Save.
-
ANSI Format supports only ASCII chars while Unicode Format supports
International chars. There are 3 types to select: Microsoft Excel Workbook
(xls), Tab delimited Text (txt).
Import:
You can import form data from a text
file. Each row in the text file must be Tab delimited to create columns, as
defined in the previous table.
Usually, you can export into Excel file by PDFill first, and then
edit the pairs of name and value inside Excel, then, save as Text (Tab delimited)
or Unicode Text.
You can collect FDF by the client user submit.
Use PDFill PDF Form Maker to add a Submit button. See
Form Data Submit
in detail.
To import form data from a file:
-
Open the a PDF form by PDFill.
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Choose File Menu > Import/Export Forms Data>Click
Import from a Text File.
-
Select a tab-delimited text file, and click Select. The new
value will be listed in the table.
-
Click Update.
Note: If you import form data from a form that doesn't match the
form you are importing into, only the form fields that match are updated, and
those that don't match are ignored. Existing text in text form fields is
replaced if you import data to those fields.
6. AutoFill List for PDF Form Fields
There are 2 ways to open this dialog:
-
From
PDFill Options, Select PDF Form Tab. Click the Button
"Edit the AutoFill List for PDF Form Fields".
-
Select a
PDF Form Field to make it current, Click Edit Menu=>Add
Current Form Field into AutoFill List or Click the icon "Add
Current Form Field into AutoFill List" on the standard toolbar.
Use
AutoFill After Reading PDF Form:
When a PDF
document with interactive PDF Form is first
read into PDFill, some PDF form fields will
be filled automatically IF their
names is exactly listed under the AutoFill
Table of Names and Values.
Show PDF Form Field's Name:
As it is ON, Show each PDF Form Field
name inside the field box.
Add or Edit: Add a new List or Edit a selected
List of Name and Value.
Move Up/Down: Change the order of the selected
list's position.
Remove: Remove the selected entry of name and
value.
Remove All: Remove all the entries of
names and values.
Update Current Form: Some
PDF form fields will be filled automatically IF their
names is exactly listed under the AutoFill
Table of Names and Values.
7.
Batch (DOS) Command Support:
You can start a batch job in Windows by issuing the
execution command directly from the MS-DOS command prompt window without
opening the PDFill GUI.
(It is only available for the registered user of PDFill PDF Editor)
Import a tab-delimited text file into a PDF Form
"C:\Program Files\PlotSoft\PDFill\PDFill.exe"
IMPORT TXT Input.txt Input.pdf Output.pdf
"C:\Program Files\PlotSoft\PDFill\PDFill.exe"
IMPORT TXT Input.txt Input.pdf Flatten Output.pdf (to
Flatten the Output.pdf)
Import a Excel table with Table Name "FORMDATA" into a PDF
form
"C:\Program Files\PlotSoft\PDFill\PDFill.exe" IMPORT XLS
FORMDATA Input.xls Input.pdf Output.pdf
"C:\Program Files\PlotSoft\PDFill\PDFill.exe" IMPORT XLS
FORMDATA Input.xls Input.pdf Flatten Output.pdf
(to Flatten the Output.pdf)
Import FDF into a PDF form
"C:\Program Files\PlotSoft\PDFill\PDFill.exe"
IMPORT FDF Input.fdf Input.pdf Output.pdf
"C:\Program Files\PlotSoft\PDFill\PDFill.exe"
IMPORT FDF Input.fdf Input.pdf Flatten Output.pdf (to Flatten
the Output.pdf)
Export a PDF
form into FDF, TXT, XLS or CSV
"C:\Program Files\PlotSoft\PDFill\PDFill.exe"
EXPORT Input.pdf Output.FDF
"C:\Program Files\PlotSoft\PDFill\PDFill.exe"
EXPORT Input.pdf Output.TXT
"C:\Program Files\PlotSoft\PDFill\PDFill.exe"
EXPORT Input.pdf Output.XLS
"C:\Program Files\PlotSoft\PDFill\PDFill.exe"
EXPORT Input.pdf Output.CSV
See more command from
here.
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