Create rights-enabled PDF forms

With Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions, you can create a rights-enabled PDF form. With a right-enabled form, Adobe Reader users comment on, fill, save, distribute, submit, and add digital signatures to the form. When you open a rights-enabled PDF form in Adobe Reader, a dialog box appears outlining the extended capabilities of the PDF file.

For more information about Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions, see the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/products/server/readerextensions.

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Determine PDF forms capabilities of Acrobat products

The following Acrobat products enable you to work with PDF forms:

Acrobat 6, 7

Many companies, organizations, and government agencies use Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Capture to convert their paper forms to PDF (Portable Document Format) forms. PDF forms can be accessed over the Internet or via email. If a PDF form includes form fields (for example, text fields, buttons, list boxes), you can fill the form onscreen with an Acrobat product. (Acrobat products include Adobe Reader, Acrobat 3D, Acrobat Professional, or Acrobat Standard.)

Create rights-enabled PDF forms

With Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions, you can create a rights-enabled PDF form. With a right-enabled form, Adobe Reader users comment on, fill, save, distribute, submit, and add digital signatures to the form. When you open a rights-enabled PDF form in Adobe Reader, a dialog box appears outlining the extended capabilities of the PDF file.

For more information about Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions, see the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/products/server/readerextensions.

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Determine PDF forms capabilities of Acrobat products

The following Acrobat products enable you to work with PDF forms:

Adobe Reader capabilities

Adobe Reader provides the following forms capabilities:

  • View, navigate, and print PDF forms, including form field data
  • Search forms (requires Adobe Reader with Search)
  • Fill fields within a PDF form (cannot save changes to a PDF form)

If a PDF form is rights-enabled, Adobe Reader provides these additional capabilities:

  • Save forms and data locally
  • Fill and submit forms online
  • Distribute forms to others for review and comment
  • Add digital signatures

Acrobat Standard capabilities

Acrobat Standard contains all the capabilities of Adobe Reader, in addition to the following:

  • Export and save PDF forms in Forms Data Format (FDF). FDF is a text file format specifically for data exported from PDF form fields. FDF files are smaller than PDF files because they contain only form field data, not the entire form.
  • Save or Export PDF form information as a PDF file or in XFDF format for XML-based FDF files.

Acrobat 3D and Acrobat Professional capabilities

Acrobat 3D and Acrobat Professional contains all the capabilities of Acrobat Standard, and allow you to create Adobe PDF form fields. On Windows only, Acrobat 3D and Acrobat Professional 6.0 and 7.0 include Adobe LiveCycle Designer 6.0 or 7.0. More advanced features in Adobe LiveCycle Designer let you use scripting objects, integrate a form with a data source, and create dynamic forms.[col width="1-3"][/col]