Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional

PDF Forms: Working with List Boxes

List boxes present multiple choices to the user in the form of a pull-down list. Acrobat allows you to easily create and delete list boxes from your PDF document.

Considerations
Creating List Boxes
Deleting List Boxes

Considerations

List Box Characteristics

The size of the field created will determine how many of the choices are visible at a time. Additional choices can be viewed by scrolling the box.
The form developer can allow multiple selections from the list. If that is the case, users will click to select the first item and then press [Ctrl] and click to select additional, noncontiguous items. To select multiple contiguous items, users click to select the first item and then press [Shift] and click the last item, thereby selecting all items in between as well.

Understanding Names and Export Values

When list boxes are used in online forms, they allow you to select from a number of choices in a pull-down list. In order to use these forms, it is important that you understand the names and export values of the form.

The name for the form field indicates what type of information you are prompting the user for or identifies what question you are asking the user. For example, a list box that has choices to the same question about planets may have the name "planets."

The item label for the choices is the text the user sees when selecting an item from your list.

The export value of the form field identifies what option the user selected. If you do not complete this text box, the export value will be the same as the item label. For example, in response to a question regarding planets, "saturn" is an option in the list box. By default, the export value would be "saturn."

When a user submits the form, the value of the list box field will be matched with the name of the list box field. The information the owner receives will look like this: name: value
EXAMPLE: planet: saturn

Creating List Boxes

List boxes are used to allow users to select one or more options from a list of options.

Open the PDF file that you will use for the form
From the View menu, select Toolbars » Forms
The Forms toolbar appears.
Click LIST BOX TOOL
Position the cursor where you want the form field to begin
Click and drag the mouse until the form field is of the desired size
OR
To create a form field of the default size, double click on the page
The List Box Properties dialog box appears.
Select the General tab
In the Name text box, type a name that identifies the list box
NOTE: For list boxes, the name identifies the question asked.
OPTIONAL: In the Tooltip text box, type a comment about the list box
NOTE: The Tooltip will appear when the Hand tool is placed over the list box.
Select the Appearance tab
In the Borders and Colors section, from the Border Color box, select a color for the border of the list box
From the Fill Color box, select the color to fill the list box
In the Text section, from the Font Size pull-down list, select a font size
From the Text Color box, select the desired color
From the Font pull-down list, select a font for the text in the list box
Select the Options tab
In the Item text box, type the name of an item to appear in the list box
In the Export Value text box, type an export value for the item
NOTES:
For list boxes, Export Value indicates the option selected by the user in response to the question.
If this text box is left blank, the export value is the same as the Item.
Click ADD
To add additional items to the list box, repeat steps 16 through 18 until all of the items are entered
OPTIONAL: To allow users to select more than one item from the list, select Multiple selection
OPTIONAL: To sort the items alphabetically, select Sort items
Click CLOSE
The check box is created. For information on changing the appearance, size, or alignment of form fields, refer to Modifying Form Fields.

Deleting List Boxes

If you create a list box and later decide it is not necessary, the following steps can be taken to remove it.

From the View menu, select Toolbars » Forms
The Forms toolbar appears.
Click LIST BOX TOOL
Select the list box you wish to delete
The list box appears with red highlights when selected.
Press [Delete]
OR
From the Edit menu, select Delete