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ADOBE ACROBAT 7.0
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Section 8: Making Adobe PDF forms accessible
Forms capabilities of Adobe applications
What is your starting point?
If you are creating a new form
You can create new forms by using LiveCycle Designer or an authoring application, such as Microsoft Word or
InDesign CS. LiveCycle Designer enables you to create a new form that has fillable and accessible form fields, and
then to deploy the form in one of several file formats, including XML-based formats for deployment on the web.
Using LiveCycle Designer is the recommended method for producing complex forms or forms that are linked to
databases. See "Using LiveCycle Designer to create accessible Adobe PDF forms" on page 42.
Another alternative is to use an authoring application to create the form. Most authoring applications that you can
use to design forms do not retain their fillable form fields when you convert the files to Adobe PDF. You will therefore
need to use the Forms tools in Acrobat Professional to add fillable form fields.
Moreover, if you tag the form during conversion to PDF, the authoring application may generate inappropriate tags
for the text labels of the form fields. In a complex form, for instance, the text labels for all the fields may run together
into a single line that screen readers can't interpret as individual labels. Such reading order problems can require
time-consuming work in Acrobat Professional to split the labels apart. In this case, producing an untagged PDF form
from the authoring application is sometimes the better course. You can then use the Forms tools in Acrobat Profes-
sional to add fillable form fields before you tag the entire document.
Some forms, however, are straightforward enough that you can produce a tagged PDF document from the authoring
application and do only light touchup in Acrobat Professional after you add the fillable form fields.
The simplicity or complexity of the source file in its authoring application may tip the balance between generating
an untagged PDF form, and then using Acrobat Professional to add fillable form fields and tag the form, versus
generating a tagged PDF form, and then using Acrobat Professional to add fillable form fields and correct poor
tagging.
If you are starting from a form that is already in Adobe PDF
The process of making any Adobe PDF form accessible involves a few basic steps—add fillable form fields, add
descriptions to the fields, set the tab order for the fields, and tag the document (if it is not already tagged). If a PDF
form is already tagged when you receive it, you must manually tag the form fields that you create in Acrobat Profes-
sional. This step is covered later in the PDF accessibility workflow, in "Section 11: Repairing reading order and basic
tagging problems" on page 59.
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