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Up0
I’m reviewing my quoting form and currently include an Authorisation page where clients can select which quote options they want to go ahead with.
The quote form is created in Word and I used an embedded Excel spreadsheet to calculate the base cost, any discounts/additions, GST, subtotals, and the deposit required for each option. At the moment, clients need to print this off, tick the options they want and manually calculate the deposit based on the number of options they choose.
I’ve reworked the spreadsheet so it includes checkboxes that automatically tally the individual deposit amounts into a final deposit figure, but if I save the document to PDF, the checkboxes no longer work.
I’ve created other documents with live links when saved to PDF (such as clickable table of contents), so is there anyway to create the sort of spreadsheet I’ve described in a PDF and also keep it live?
Of course, I can just send the Word document, but I think PDFs look more professional and have the advantage that formatting and content can’t be edited.
Cheers
Up0Brent@Ontrax, post: 178857 wrote:Unfortunately Not, you will have to use PDF form wizard from Acrobat or other PDF Form Creators to make the fields.I suspected as much – but live in hope, right?
Do you know if these sorts of form creators will allow for the sorts of calculations I’m talking about, or are they only good for checkboxes and adding text into content boxes?
Caliper, post: 178866 wrote:Not sure if it would work for you, but have you thought of an online form that they can fill in and it will calculate on the spot. The quote pdf can also be emailed to them on form submission.Thanks Charles – I’ll take a look and see if it suits my needs.
Up0The Copy Chick, post: 178919 wrote:I suspected as much – but live in hope, right?
Do you know if these sorts of form creators will allow for the sorts of calculations I’m talking about, or are they only good for checkboxes and adding text into content boxes?
Honestly I didn’t think you could but I just found this on the Adobe website from 2010 and now I’m going to re-thing a quick solution I did for a friend of mine a coupe of years ago…
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/580691
Here’s the Google search I used as there’s heaps of other useful pages…
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=calculations+in+PDF+file&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb&gfe_rd=ctrl&ei=69aaUq_OBsON8Qf-04HgCg&gws_rd=crBrent
Up0You’re a legend Brent! Thank you!!
Will have to investigate this on my Christmas break.Up0Hey Anna. Sure, you can perform calculations across selective fields within PDF structure.
If you need help with your form contact me & we’ll design it for you and make it interactive. We can embed calculations scripts and make it run like swiss clockwork
having forms in a word format is just a big no-no procedure
p.s. check my signature for contact
Gregory
Up0Hi Gregory,
Totally agree that forms shouldn’t be sent in Word, but my proposal document is about 8 pages long and needs to also be customisable for each job. The Authorisation page is just a small part of the overall document.
If you were to create a form as I’ve outlined above, would it still be editable as a Word doc using with the fill-in fields I’ve created to populate the information throughout the document, or would it be a static form with only the calculable areas easily able to be changed?
The other consideration I have is that I’d like to start regularly sending proposals through EchoSign, which allows clients to digitally sign and return their authorisation (and acknowledge they’ve read each page), so they don’t have to physically print off the form. This also includes specific coding.
Happy to send you a copy of the proposal doc for you to look at if that helps.
Cheers – Anna
Up0Hey Anna.
Doesn’t matter if your document spans 8 pages. We can always redesign it to span across less pages if that’s desirable. Besides in the finance industry (CBA,Westpac) I was creating forms that span more than 20 pages on a daily bases so 8 is not a lot of pages really. The goal should always be the least number of pages as you don’t want form fillers to fall asleep and this is where clever layout of the form comes in.
Yes every pdf form can be customizable for every job.
If you were to create a form as I’ve outlined above, would it still be editable as a Word doc using with the fill-in fields I’ve created to populate the information throughout the document, or would it be a static form with only the calculable areas easily able to be changed?
No. If we were to create editable,fillable PDF with calculation scripts than it wouldn’t be editable Word doc. It would be PDF ‘dynamic’ document with the fill-in fields we’ve created to populate and calcuate the information throughout the document. What’s your obsession of going back to the word?
the point is to go to a professional format i.e. > PDF.The other consideration I have is that I’d like to start regularly sending proposals through EchoSign, which allows clients to digitally sign and return their authorisation (and acknowledge they’ve read each page), so they don’t have to physically print off the form. This also includes specific coding.
To avoid physically printing off the form you don’t need to ‘buy’ EchoSign.
Digital signing is available without Echo Sign feature.Echo sign is just a fancy feature that allows you to view, fill & sign your PDF straight on your website. (It is quite clunky filling out the form off the website)
Precondition for using EchoSign is off course that you have to have a fillable,signable PDF for to start with which doesn’t need to be printed, like, ever.Shoot through the form @ email below and I’ll have a peek at it & advise you further
Gregory
Up0Thanks Gregory – I might just flick you the proposal form so you can see what my ‘obsession’ with Word is
It may be that I need to keep the actual proposal document in Word so I can modify the scope of work, and other details which need to be tailored to the client, and perhaps keep the Authorisation as a separate form (at the moment, the fields populate much of the information to reduce the time I need to spend duplicating it).
Up0Hey Anna.
More than happy to show/prove it to you that you don’t need to be dependent on Word for custom/variable sections of your document.
For everyone reading this that might have similar doubts/questions please note that PDF format offers vast range of customization/script options that Word simply cannot match. Your forms should always be in a Portable Document Format. Period.
p.s. you got mail
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