Working with Forms in Adobe Acrobat

Summary

Learn how to use Adobe Acrobat to make accessible forms.

Body

Working with Forms in Adobe Acrobat

Adding Form Fields in Adobe Acrobat

  • Start with a document that is already well tagged before starting.
  • Top left > tools tab > “forms and signatures” > add “prepare form tool”.
  • Prepare form tool’s auto detection varies. (change > uncheck “automatically detect form fields”.
  • Prepare form field > click where you want a form field > name all form fields.
  • Ctrl (windows) or alt (mac) and drag where you want to copy over the form field > rename the copy (double click).
  • Adjust font and sizing as needed.
  • You can insert dropdown lists, check boxes, and radio buttons.

Adding a Tooltip to Form Fields

  • Fields are listed on the right-hand side within the tool.
  • Tooltips are field descriptions.
  • Select “prepare form” in the right pane > double click on a field > type in the tooltip box.
  • All fields need tooltips, including checkboxes and radio buttons.

Manually Tagging Form Fields

  • Reading order panel > click and drag to grab the field you want to tag > ctrl (windows) or option key (mac) to remove extra elements > use the reading order panel to tag the field as a form field.
  • Tag each form field.

Automatically Tagging Form Fields

  • Tags pane > options > find > unmarked annotations > search document > tag element > type: “form”.

Tagging a Button

  • Prepare form > hit “ok” icon at the top of the tools tab > select button designer created > name > double click field > actions tab > select action: “submit a form” > choose format > enter email into URL in the format “mailto:email@email.com”.
  • Appearance tab > options tab > icon only > choose icon > insert the button design.
  • Tag the button.

Structuring Form Tags in the Tags Panel

  • When two form names are included in on <p> tag, select one and “create tag from selection”.
    • Drag the forms to the proper name <p>.

Details

Details

Article ID: 168896
Created
Wed 10/22/25 6:12 PM
Modified
Wed 10/22/25 6:12 PM