Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional can be used, among many other things, for creating and distributing interactive forms and keeping track of peoples' responses as they are sent back to the form's originator.

Most interactive forms are encountered on the web. However, there are benefits to using PDFs instead. For one thing, the format of the original form is always preserved in a PDF whereas web forms can display differently in different browsers.

When it comes to delivering PDF forms, there are more options than with a web-based form. You can email the form to your audience or perhaps include it on a CD or DVD.

Forms have been a feature of Acrobat since version 3. However, the forms features available in Acrobat 8 are a significant improvement on anything available in previous versions.

Instead of relying purely on other applications to supply its content, Acrobat can now create forms from scratch using a utility called Adobe Life Cycle Designer. It also includes some useful form templates such as conference registration, employee appraisal, etc.

When using forms created in other applications as the basis of an Acrobat form, you can now choose "Run Form Field Recognition" form the "Forms" menu and Acrobat will examine the layout of the form and create interactive form fields automatically.

Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional's Scan From Paper feature also allows you to create an interactive PDF form that is based on a printed document.

As well as having Acrobat automatically generate text fields for you, you can add a variety of other controls, such as drop-down menus, tick boxes and radio buttons. Then you finish it off by adding a submit button.

Another new feature in Acrobat 8 is to create a form which allows Acrobat Reader users to save form data when they have filled in the form. (This feature is normally only available with a full version of Acrobat.) To activate this facility, just choose "Enable Usage Rights in Acrobat Reader" from the "Advanced" menu.

You can send your interactive PDF form to any number of users by clicking on the "Form" menu and choosing "Distribute Form". You can select a series of emails from an Outlook address book or just enter recipients manually.

Acrobat 8 Professional now contains a facility for storing each of the returned form in one place, called a dataset. As you open each returned form, a dialogue box appears prompting you to add the form data to the dataset.

Once all the forms have been returned and the data added to the dataset, you just open the dataset and export it as a CSV (comma separated values) file. This format is compatible with programs like Excel and Access which can then be used to store and analyse responses to your forms.

Spyware and Viruses Products on our marketplace

Author is a developer and trainer with Macresource Computer Solutions, a UK IT training company offering Adobe Acrobat Classes in London and throughout the UK.