12 | Acrobat 9 Pro PDF Accessibility Repair Workflow

• You can right click over the form to present options that allow you to add, edit, or delete fields.

The cursor becomes a cross hair.

• On the page, click where you want to add the field to create a field with the default size. To create a

field using a custom size, drag a rectangle to define the size of the field.

• In the Field Name box, type the name of the field and specify if you want the field to be a required

field. Acrobat provides a default name based upon the field type and the number of fields drawn on

the page. You should choose a name that is relevant and descriptive to make organizing and

collecting the data easier (See “Figure 7 Field Name Box” on page 12)

• To display the Properties dialog box and modify any other field properties, click Show All

Properties (See “Figure 7 Field Name Box” on page 12)

Note:

If you have selected the Keep Tool Selected option in the forms toolbar, the Field Name

box doesn’t appear after adding a field. Each time you click the page, a new field is added

to the form. To exit this mode, press the Esc key or click the Select Object Tool button. To

modify the properties of the field, double-click the field.

Figure 7 Field Name Box

To test your form, click the Preview button. Previewing a form allows you to view the form the same way the

form recipients will and gives you a chance to verify the form. If you are previewing a form, you can click the

Edit Layout button to go back to the Forms Editing mode.

Form Field Properties

How a form field behaves is determined by settings in the Properties dialog box for that individual field. You

can set properties that apply formatting, determine how the form field information relates to other form

fields, impose limitations on what the user can enter in the form field, trigger custom scripts, and so forth.

You can set a variety of properties for an Acrobat form field, depending on the form field type. The

properties for each type of form field are selected on a series of tabs. When you change a property, it is

applied as soon as you select another property or press Enter.

All the form field types have a General tab, Appearance tab, and an Actions tab. Other tabs appear only in

specific types of form fields. The Options tab appears for most form field types but the options available are

unique to each type of form field.

If you are changing the properties of multiple fields, you can leave the Properties dialog box open. Click on

each field to change its properties.

Tooltips for Form Fields

For accessibility, the Tooltip option on the General tab is important for entering text that will be announced

by screen readers.

You can make form fields accessible to people with disabilities by adding tags to the PDF and by properly

structuring it. In addition, you can use the tool tip form field property to provide the user with information

Making PDF Accessible with Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro