How to Make CGI Forms with
- Visit Adobe's Acrobat pages for more info.
- See a simple Acrobat form here. You can download it and change it to fit your needs. If you fill the example in, it will not send the message to you.
- The Instructional Designer's Experimental Area (IDEA) has more demonstartion forms.

1. If you already have a non-Acrobat document that you want to put a form on, you have two options:
   Windows:
   • For best graphic quality and compression: Save your document as a PostScript file in Pagemaker or WordPerfect (or something else) then use Acrobat Distiller.
   • Less steps: Open your Printers folder and edit the properties of the "PDF Writer" Driver. Set the port to "FILE:". Set it as the default printer. Print your document to the PDF Writer then name it and it will save in the directory you select. Change the default printer back when you are done.
   Macintosh:
   • For best graphic quality and compression: Save your document as a PostScript file in Pagemaker or WordPerfect (or something else) then use Acrobat Distiller.
   • Less steps: If you use desktop printing there should be a PDF writer on your desktop. Drop your document on it. You can also choose the PDF writer in the Chooser then print the document. Change it back to your printer when you are done.
2. If you want to start from scratch, create a blank document in the application of your choice.
• Windows: Open your Printers folder and edit the properties of the "PDF Writer" Driver. Set the port to "FILE:". Set it as the default printer. Print a blank document (you can use Notebook) to the PDF Writer then name it and it will save in the directory you select.Change the default printer back when you are done.
• Macintosh: If you use desktop printing there should be a PDF writer on your desktop. Drop a blank document on it. You can also choose the PDF writer in the Chooser then print the document. Change it back to your printer when you are done.
3. Open the new PDF file in Acrobat Exchange.
4. Select the Form Tool. (To the left of the "T" text tool.)
5. Create the Form Cells you desire by clicking and dragging. A dialog box will open.
   
   • Under the Text Options and Appearance tabs there are several settings which you can change as you desire.
   • For a Text Cell: Type a name for the cell. Select Text from the "Type" pop-up menu. Use the Password checkbox to hide what they are typing (just as in an HTML form). In HTML, text cells don't have an action so ignore the Actions tab for these.
   • For Checkboxes: Type a name for the cell. Select Check Box from the "Type" pop-up menu.
   • For Buttons: Type a name for the cell. Set the options in the Apperance tab as you want them. Use to submit or clear the form or perform any other task in the Action Tab.
     
     • Make one button for submitting the form. Click on Mouse Down then click the add button. Choose Submit Form from the pull down menu.
       Set the URL for the Submit button to: http://grove.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/fsc/form-mail?EMAILTO,EMAILFROM,SUBJECT,Y_OR_N,Y_OR_N
       • Replace EMAILTO with the address the form data is going to, EMAILFROM with the address you want the message to be from, SUBJECT with the subject you want (multiple words must be separated by "+" signs) and the first Y_OR_N with a "Y" which denotes that you want the form field names to be shown (for regular HTML forms, has no bearing on PDF forms, make it "Y" anyway) and replace the second Y_OR_N with a "Y" to denote that this is a PDF form.
     • Make another button for clearing the form. Under the action tab, click on Mouse Down, click the Add button, and select Clear Form from the pull-down menu.
6. To see what the form will look like click on the hand tool. You can test everything except submitting.
7. To try submitting the form open the PDF file in Netscape (make sure you have the PDF plug-in that comes with Acrobat or Acrobat Reader 3.0) A similar toolbar will appear in the browser window. Try filling in the form and submitting it.
8. The data file (an FDF file) is sent as an attachment to an e-mail sent to the address in the URL. Use your e-mail program (Netscape, Eudora, etc.) to save it to wherever you wish.
9. Open your form in Acrobat Exchange. In the File menu, go to Import->Form Data.

10. Select the FDF file and hit OK. The data should be placed in the form.