As an alternative to web forms, you can publish interactive Adobe Acrobat PDFs that print neatly but still support online submissions. For example, you might want to enable employees to submit expense reports online but follow up with a printed paper copy.

Integrating PDF forms with ExpressDB is just as copy-and-paste simple as for web forms.

You create forms in Acrobat using the Form Wizard (also known as LifeCycle Designer). If you need help with the basics of creating a form in Acrobat, see this Adobe TV tutorial on Creating Basic Fillable Forms (Using Form Wizard).

Here, we have taken one of the form templates provided by Adobe, customizing it with our own logo. The Form Wizard lets us add a button that will allow users to print the form with the data they have filled in. We have added a new button, which will become our Submit Online button.

A boilerplate form

Open the Object tab in the form designer, and change the label text. For Control Type, we want Submit.

Button Properties

When you change Control Type, a new tab will appear labeled Submit.

For the post URL, we create our ExpressDB database as usual and copy just the web address, which includes the activation key for the database. If users will be submitting sensitive data, such as social security numbers, simply check the box to enable SSL encryption.

Copy Activation Key

You will paste the ExpressDB address into the Submit to URL field. Make sure the Submit As field is set to URL-encoded Data (HTTP Post).

Add the Submit parameters

Save the PDF. You now have an interactive PDF form you can send by email or post online. Note that for best results, the form should be viewed with a recent release of the Adobe’s Acrobat or Acrobat Reader. Other PDF viewers, such as the one built into Google’s Chrome browser, may not handle interactive forms properly.

You can try it here: Employment Application Demo (PDF)