Form to be used by all Employees

[CamarotaDesign]

I've got a bid sheet, I created it in InDesign. Only me and 1 other person have indesign on our comps. The other sales reps need to be able to fill out the forms from their computers so they can send them over email.

Unfortunately, its too complex to use acrobat's touch up text tool as a PDF.

Are there any form-creating programs available? Something that I could slap in a background image, like an EPS, and then create forms over it?

I was thinking of making it a bmp file and putting it on MS word, in the background, but Im not sure if MSword can have type over images. Plus, thats tacky.

any help is appreciated

[urstwile]

Camarota, you could create an Acrobat form instead. The only thing is, I don't really know how it's done, I'm hunting for a tutorial right now.

[Kool]

Excel? You could do this in Access too. You'd have to re-create it from scratch though. http://home.comcast.net/~rnick9/koolsmiley.gif

[Kool]

Urstwile is already over there digging around for you but this thread might help too. http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18307

[urstwile]

Kool, I also posted a question in that thread looking for tutorials on forms.

Camarota, here's what I found after Googling, but I'm hoping someone comes up with a better one, the pace of this one is REALLY slow. But it does seem fairly comprehensive. Acrobat Forms Tutorial (http://www.uncfsu.edu/itts/training/training-videos/acrobat_forms/acrobat_forms.html)

[Eggles1]

The easiest thing to do is to create the form in Word. Everyone has a copy and can use it. Of course you can place images in Word and have type sitting over the top of it. The easiest way is to place it in a header. There are also other controls for position, text wrap etc if you right click on the inserted image.

But for goodness sake, don't use any graphic in either EPS or BMP formats. The former (EPS) because it will not print properly on non-postscript prionmters, which is what most inhouse printers are. The latter (BMP) because it is usually such a huge file. Use a TIF instead, or a PNG. Both file types are accepted by Word.

Set up the form in a table - you have far more control over where things go, as will the person filling it in. You don't need to have visible borders around all table cells. You might consider having borders only around the places where the person needs to add text.

[CamarotaDesign]

Urst, that Tutorial was exactly what I needed. thanks!

The other ideas you guys mentioned were good too. I'll have to make sure everyone has acrobat on their computer, but im pretty sure they do. If not, I'll go with the word file idea, thanks eggles! I was trying to figure that out myself,

once again GDF to the rescue.

[cjoe]

Kool, I also posted a question in that thread looking for tutorials on forms.

Camarota, here's what I found after Googling, but I'm hoping someone comes up with a better one, the pace of this one is REALLY slow. But it does seem fairly comprehensive. Acrobat Forms Tutorial (http://www.uncfsu.edu/itts/training/training-videos/acrobat_forms/acrobat_forms.html)

top stuff urstwile! i shall also use this.

[urstwile]

I'm glad I found it myself, I've been wanting to learn how to work with the forms feature in Acrobat myself.

The only thing I wasn't real sure of, and hopefully someone else can answer, is does the person who fills out the form need to have the full version of Acrobat, and if not, how does it work with just the Reader version?

In your case, Camarota, it sounds like the others have the full version of Acrobat so it might not matter.

Gotta love Google!

[panzer]

infopath ???? thats the thing with reader and acrobat you have to have full blow version to edit anything