Form Creation Recommendation

[DocStone]

I am working with a non-profit organization and need to create some custom forms that will be printed out for vetting purposes. The forms will not be online in the sense that the user will fill out the form on the website and then it is electronically submitted. This is mainly due to security issues and the sensitivity of the info in the form.

What I am looking or is to create a clean and detailed form (think government form SF86) that can be downloaded as a PDF and filled out, printed out and physically submitted. Also, it could be filled out by hand.

It seems that every service online seems to come up with a service based where it is stored on their server and that does not work for us. I tried in pages but it is limited at this point. Any suggestions? Thanks all for your time to read this.

ATTACHED: A random page from Government Form 86. My apologies for anyone who had to fill out this monster form. I had to for security clearance and it sucked!

 

[superscape]

Hi,

So you're looking to create a PDF form? The way I've done this in the past is to create a PDF - I used Illustrator, but anything will do. Next, open it in Adobe Acrobat and draw the form fields as necessary. If you know a bit of javascript, you can add form validation etc. if required.

See also: https://acrobat.adobe.com/uk/en/acrobat/how-to/create-fillable-pdf-forms-creator.html

Hope that helps!

 

[mailbuoy]

[QUOTE="What I am looking or is to create a clean and detailed form (think government form SF86) that can be downloaded as a PDF and filled out, printed out and physically submitted. Also, it could be filled out by hand. View attachment 699854[/QUOTE]

I think PDFpenPro could do what you want. From the Help file:

"With PDFpenPro, you can create an interactive fill-in PDF form with the ability to submit the data via web or email. PDFpenPro can even automatically create form fields and checkboxes in a static form."

"When creating a form you may want to design the layout in another application for the best layout, then print that document to PDF, and use PDFpenPro to add the interactive form fields."

 

[rhett7660]

I basically do what @superscape does also. I will layout the actual form in a variety of different apps. Illustrator and MS Word to name a few. Then once I have the form signed off on, I will bring it into Acrobat Pro and do all of the actual form fields along with adding form validation, date pickers, and any other items that can be used for scripting. I am also assuming the end user can have the option of filling it out on computer or filling it out by hand? Or is this going to be a strictly online?

Are you going to be making a dynamic form? If so, I would probably recommend building it all within Acrobat since you will have pieces move and fields update or disappear based on the form content that is being filled out.

 

[960design]

I am working with a non-profit organization and need to create some custom forms that will be printed out for vetting purposes. The forms will not be online in the sense that the user will fill out the form on the website and then it is electronically submitted. This is mainly due to security issues and the sensitivity of the info in the form.

What I am looking or is to create a clean and detailed form (think government form SF86) that can be downloaded as a PDF and filled out, printed out and physically submitted. Also, it could be filled out by hand.

It seems that every service online seems to come up with a service based where it is stored on their server and that does not work for us. I tried in pages but it is limited at this point. Any suggestions? Thanks all for your time to read this.

ATTACHED: A random page from Government Form 86. My apologies for anyone who had to fill out this monster form. I had to for security clearance and it sucked! View attachment 699854

Sketch by Bohemian
https://www.sketchapp.com/

But I haven't done that in quite some time. All forms I create are currently online and submitted over https.

This would save tons of time and effort for both parties. You still have to do something with the forms you have. An envelope sitting around an office is certainly less secure than saved directly to a database as encrypted text.

 

[superscape]

Another thing, which may spark a bit of a debate... it seems strange to assume that a printed out form sent through the mail is more secure than a form submitted online (assuming sensible security measures and encryption are in place). A physical paper form in an envelope may be handled by a number of people in the postal service, any of whom could choose to open it and take a peek and/or hand it on to a third party. Much less likely with a web based form, I'd have thought.