Tips for using Acrobat forms.

Saving Completed Forms

  • You cannot save completed forms using the free Acrobat Reader. Only by purchasing the full Adobe Acrobat product will you gain the ability to save completed forms. Even after purchasing Acrobat you will not be able to save the forms with data if you bring them up in a browser window. You must download the form to a local or network drive in order to save changes. See Form Usage Options below for more information.

Printing Issues

  • Issue 1: The bottom, top, or sides of the form are cut off when they are printed. This issue can be resolved by clicking the "Shrink to Fit" check box on the Print dialog box.
  • Issue 2: When the form is printed, the very last field you typed data into does not print. The solution to this problem is to simply tab out of the field and print the form again.

Zoom feature

  • Acrobat allows you to zoom in and out to view the form differently. This can be helpful because many of the forms are hard to read when displaying the whole page. This feature is activated through the View drop down menu or by using the three toolbar icons located to the left of the binocular icon.

Activating Check Boxes

  • Check boxes can be toggled on and off using the mouse or by tabbing to the field and keying the space bar.

Getting to the next page

  • Navigating through multi-page forms can be done in two ways: using the scroll bar on the right of the form or by using the page navigation buttons (the collection of arrow and double arrow buttons) on the toolbar.

Form Usage Options

  • Default Method: Click on the form link brings the document up in a browser window and will allow you to complete and print the form. This is the easiest way to use the Acrobat forms, but it does not allow you to save completed forms (even if you have purchased Acrobat).
  • Download Forms: Downloading the individual Acrobat forms to a local or network drive and using them from there gives the user a few advantages. First, the form will be brought up using just Acrobat, not Acrobat inside a browser window. Secondly, this gives you the ability to save completed forms if you have purchased the full Acrobat product. If you choose to use the forms this way, be sure to check the web pages periodically for updated forms.