Add functionality to PDF forms with buttons

PDF version

Created:: 21 April 2006

User Level:: Intermediate, Advanced

Products:: Acrobat undefined or later

Excerpted from “Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Classroom in a Book.”

Using Adobe® Acrobat® 7.0 Professional you can create dynamic PDF forms to capture and share information electronically. To enhance the functionality of PDF forms, you can add buttons to them. In this tutorial, we’ll examine how to add buttons to your PDF forms. To follow along with this tutorial, download the companion file Info.pdf (633KB). Alternatively, you can use a PDF form or file of your own.

Add radio buttons

To add radio buttons to your form:

From the Advanced Editing toolbar, select the Radio Button tool.

Choose the Radio Button tool from the Advanced Editing toolbar.
Position your cursor on the form and click and drag downward and to the right to create a small radio button. The radio button should be approximately the same height as the letter R in the word Referral. The Radio Button Properties window opens after you finish drawing the button.
Choose the General tab of the Radio Button Properties dialog box, and for Name, enter “Learned About Us From” and for Tooltip, enter “Tell us how you learned about BoomToonz.” Leave the other settings in this tab unchanged, and keep the Radio Button Properties window open.
Choose the Appearance tab and set the following:
- For Border Color, click on the swatch to the right and choose Black.
- For Fill Color, click on the swatch to the right and choose White.
- From the Line Thickness pop-up menu, choose Thin.
- From the Line Style pop-up menu, choose Inset.

Leave the other settings unchanged, and keep the window open.

Choose the Options tab and for Button Style, choose Circle. For Export Value, type “Referral.” Leave the other settings unchanged, and click the Close button to close the window.
Using the Radio Button tool, select the radio button you created in the previous steps. Hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac OS), and drag the button to the right. While continuing to hold down the Ctrl or Option key, also press the Shift key while dragging the field to the right to make a copy of the button. Place the copy of the radio button to the left of the words “Internet Search.”

Tip: Using the Shift key along with either the Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) key you can duplicate form fields and have the duplicated fields remain in alignment with the original fields. The Shift key constrains movement to keep the copy positioned on the same vertical or horizontal path as the original.

Note: It may be helpful to increase the magnification of the radio button before duplicating. Use either the Zoom In tool or press Ctrl+ (Windows) or Command+ (Mac OS).
Repeating the process in step 6, duplicate the original radio button. and place the duplicated button adjacent to the word “Other.”
Continuing to use the radio button tool, right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac OS) on the radio button you created in step 6. Choose Properties from the contextual menu and the Radio Button Properties window opens. Choose the Options tab and for Export Value, type “Internet Search.” Leave the other settings unchanged, and click the Close button to close the window.
Repeating the process in step 8, right-click (Windows) or Ctrl-click (Mac OS) on the radio button adjacent to the word “Other” and choose Properties. In the Radio Button Properties window, choose the Options tab and for the Export Value, type “Other.” Leave the other settings unchanged, and click the Close button to close the window.

Set button options, such as Button Style and Export Value, in the Radio Button Properties dialog box.

Tip: If you want to give users the choice of selecting multiple options all at once, you can use check boxes instead of radio buttons. Radio buttons allow for only one choice.

Add print and reset buttons

Here you will create two buttons that can be used to clear the data from the form fields and print the form.

From the Forms Toolbar, select the Button tool.
Move your cursor to a blank area on the form. Click and drag downward and to the right to draw a box that covers the top half of the empty space. The Button Properties window opens when you release the mouse. Keep this window open.
Choose the General tab and for Name, enter “Print.” For Tooltip enter “Click to print form.” Leave the other settings in this tab at their default values, and keep the window open.
Choose the Appearance tab of the Button Properties dialog box:
- Click on the swatch to the right of Border Color and choose a light red color.
- Click on the swatch to the right of Fill Color and choose a dark red color.
- From the Line Thickness pop-up menu, choose Medium.
- From the Line Style pop-up menu, choose Beveled.
- From the Font Size pop-up menu, choose 14.
- Click on the swatch to the right of Text Color and choose White.
- In the Font pop-up menu, choose Helvetica Bold.
Leave the other settings in this tab unchanged, and keep the window open.
- Click the Options tab and set the following:
- For Layout, choose Label only.
- For Behavior, choose Invert.
- For Label, enter Print.
Leave the other settings in this tab unchanged, and keep the window open. Choose the Actions tab and for Select Trigger, choose Mouse Up. For Select Action, choose Execute a Menu Item, then click Add. The Menu Item Selection window appears.

Set the button trigger and action in the Button Properties dialog box.
In the Menu Item Selection window, choose File > Print. Click OK to accept this action and close the Menu Item Selection window (Windows) or choose File > Print then click OK (Mac OS).
Click the Close button to close the Button Properties window.

Create a reset button

Finally, we’ll add a reset button to the form:

If necessary, choose the Button tool from the Forms Toolbar.

Tip: You can use the Grid to help you align buttons and form fields. Choose View > Grid to make the grid visible or to hide it. You can set the size of the grid by choosing Edit > Preferences > Units & Guides.
Position the cursor under the Print button created previously. You will create a similarly sized button by positioning the cursor below the lower left corner of the Print button. Click and drag down and to the right, creating a box that is approximately the same size as the Print button. When you release the mouse, the Button Properties window opens.
In the General tab, locate the Name field and enter “Clear,” then enter “Click to reset form” in the Tooltip field. Leave the other settings in the General tab unchanged, and do not close the window.
Choose the Appearance tab of the Button Properties dialog box:
- Click on the swatch to the right of Border Color and choose a light red color.
- Click on the swatch to the right of Fill Color and choose a dark red color.
- From the Line Thickness pop-up menu, choose Medium.
- From the Line Style pop-up menu, choose Beveled.
- From the Font Size pop-up menu, choose 14.
- Click on the swatch to the right of Text Color and choose White.
- In the Font pop-up menu, choose Helvetica Bold.
Select the Options tab and make the following selections:
- From the Layout pop-up menu, choose Label only.
- From the Behavior pop-up menu, choose Invert.
- In the Label textbox, type Clear.
  
  Leave the other settings in the Options tab unchanged, and leave the window open.
Click the Actions tab and choose Mouse Up from the Select Trigger pop-up menu. Choose Reset a Form from the Select Action choices, and click the Add button. The Reset a Form window opens.
In the Reset a Form window, confirm that all the fields are selected. If necessary, click Select All to choose all the fields that will be reset. Click OK to close this window, then click Close to close the Button Properties window.

In the Reset A Form dialog box, select all form fields so that they’re all cleared when the form is reset.