PDF Fillable Forms - University of Manitoba



Creating Accessible Fillable PDF Forms Using Adobe Acrobat DCThe University of Manitoba is committed to providing an accessible learning and working environment. The University of Manitoba has designated Student Accessibility Services (SAS) to facilitate the implementation of accommodations for students with documented disabilities. SAS has produced this document to provide instructors and staff with information on how to create accessible PDF documents.PDF Fillable FormsYou can build a fill-in PDF form by either converting an existing Word or PDF file into a fillable form, or by creating an original. The key is providing text description to form fields that can be read by a screen reader to improve document navigation. Creating a New Form To create a new form, click on File Create Create Form. 87630069469000You will be prompted to either upload an existing document or to scan a document. Acrobat analyzes your document and adds form fields automatically.Creating a Form From An Existing Document81026065722500If you are working on an existing PDF document, then within the Acrobat window, click on the “Tools” tab select “Prepare Form”.Here again, Acrobat does the same thing as when you are creating a form from a new document: it analyzes your document and adds form fields automatically.Editing FormsIn Forms Editing Mode:To add new form fields, click from the tool options available in the top toolbar. Name the field form using a relevant, short label. You can adjust the layout using tools located in the right pane. New form fields can be moved to their desired location by clicking and dragging them into place.The top toolbar includes options to add: a text field, check boxes, radio buttons, list of choices, dropdown lists, a “print” or “clear” or alternative type of button, a field for a digital signature, a barcode field to encode data that people type in this form.The right pane includes options to: align, center, match size, distribute, and more. It also includes a navigation window that allows you to track the fields included in the form as well as jump from page-to-page. 2571750132080008801108445500Deleting or modifying form fields: if you right-click on one of the form fields an option menu will populate where you can choose a variety of actions such as delete, rename, or duplicate across pages. Accessible Labelling: TooltipsInclude an accessible label that describes the purpose of the form field to a screen reader. This is provided through the Tooltip.Tooltip: appears when the mouse hovers over a form field and displays text that helps guide users on how to fill in the form. It must include all information a screen reader user would need in order to fill in the field. 1365250109410500To access a tooltip either double-click or right-click on the form field, “Properties”, under the “General” tab you can edit the prompt text that appears (if you are editing a text field), and below that you can input descriptive text into the “Tooltip” Tooltips should be short and descriptive. Ex. “Last Name” would be a good tooltip for a last name field; “Enrollment Date (2 digit month / 2 digit day / 4 digit year)” would be an appropriate tooltip for an “Enrollment Date” field that had a required field format. 136207515113000Note: If fields are marked “Required” in Acrobat, they won’t be identified by a screen reader. You must identify required fields by including “required” in your tooltip. Under the “General Tab” in the Form’s “Properties” menu, check the box beside “Required” in the “Common Properties” section at the bottom of the dialog box. Tooltips For The Various Form Field Types19050-3810000Text field: You can make text single or multi-line. Placeholder text (called?“Default Value”?in in the?“Properties?window”) is best to leave blank. It will be read by a screen reader in addition to the Tooltip, but it should not be used in place of the Tooltip and should not include essential information. 952515875000Button: To add text to a button, open the?“Properties”?dialog for the button, select the?“Options”?tab, and then enter the appropriate text in the?“Label”?option. If a button does not have a Tooltip, the text that appears on the button will be read by a screen reader, but if a Tooltip is provided it will override the button text. While adding a Tooltip to a button may not seem necessary, the accessibility checker will flag a button without a Tooltip as an error, so it is best to add a Tooltip that is identical to the button text. Best practice is to include a “Submit Form Action” at the end of the form. This action can be applied to a button or web link. This ensures the filled in form is attached and submitted to the intended web address (as opposed to if you provide the web address as a link, in which case the user is merely directed to the user’s email program and the form would have to be manually attached and submitted). Inserting a “Submit Form” button:Create a button field Adjust the field properties Add a “Submit Form Action”Click the “Actions” tab, choose “Submit a form” The “Submit Form Selections” window will openAt the top of the window, under “Enter a URL for this link” fill in the email address the form will be sent to At the bottom of the window, click “PDF The complete document” radio button 19050-381000Radio Buttons.Special attention should be paid to creating radio buttons as the formatting process is more challenging than the other field types.Right-click on the radio button group Properties under the “Options” tab in the “Radio Button Properties” window each field should be labelled with the same name and tooltip but provide different Button Choices (values). The Group name is the question/prompt to the userThe radio button choice is the user’s answer to your question“Button Choice Values” need to match the text that appears beside each radio button. To edit button choice values:Go to the “Options” tab change “Radio Button Choice” to text that matches the text that appears beside the radio button ?Setting the Radio Button Choice Example-3022608064500-213360169735Refer to “Setting the Radio Button Choice Example” Steps 1-5 images on the following page.00Refer to “Setting the Radio Button Choice Example” Steps 1-5 images on the following page.(1) Create a radio button group that asks for a person’s titleName the group “Title”(2) Create four radio buttons. These will be the title answers a person can select: “Mr.”, “Mrs.”, “Ms.”, “Dr.”(3) Give each button the identical name: “Title” For each radio button, the identical text appears in the Tooltip field, such as “Title”(4) For the button next to the label indicating “Title”, enter “Mr.” in the Radio Button Choice field under the options tab in the Radio Button Properties dialog. On the right-hand side of the screen in the “Fields” list you should see a tree diagram for the radio button group. It should be start with “Title” and have the four radio button options (Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr.) listed below it(5) Now the radio button’s accompanying text labels must be created. Go to the “Edit PDF” tool, in the top tool bar select the “Add Text” option, and create a textbox beside each radio button and input the answer the button stands for*The text beside the radio button should be the same as the text input for the “Radio Button Choice”—these are the user’s answer to the radio button’s question/promptStep 11047752984500Step 2 2277110283845004842510116395500-3492528448000Step 3 & 4Step 5220599019304000-304807048500-76200381000Checkboxes cannot be grouped together in the same way as radio buttons. Include the description (question or prompt for the user) of the group of checkboxes?and?the individual checkbox choice (user’s answer) in the?“Tooltip”. The “Tooltip” includes the description (question or prompt for the user) and the checkbox choice (user’s answer) separated by a dash (‘-’)“Field Names” for checkboxes should make the checkbox easily identifiable, and appropriately related to the tooltip. They should indicate the field is a checkbox and include the same text as the tooltip. Setting the Checkbox Choice Example: If you have a prompt on a form asking the user to “check off all the courses that apply” there would be checkboxes beside a list of courses (user answers)-3086103466100(1) In the image to the right, the “Field Name” was set to “checkbox” followed by the same text used for the tooltip: “checkbox for courses that apply – biology” subsequent checkboxes could simply be named “checkbox courses that apply – business”, “checkbox courses that apply – chemistry”, etc.). -2758545207000(2) To set the tooltip: right click on the checkbox form field, go to “Properties”, under the “General” tab you will have the option to input the tooltip. The “Tooltip” includes the description and the checkbox choice. Here the tooltip was named “Courses that apply – biology” (3) The checkbox’s accompanying text labels must be created. Go to the “Edit PDF” tool, in the top tool bar select the “Add Text” option, and create a textbox beside each radio button and input the answer the button stands for-3092451688100*The text beside the checkbox should be the same as the text input for the “Radio Button Choice”—these are the user’s answer to the checkbox’s question/prompt-86360-1486900Dropdown list: menus that can be navigated with the arrow keys or by selecting the first letter of the desired option. If there is a default option selected, a screen reader will read it as well as the Tooltip. -10567419113500List box: for accessibility and usability reasons, it is best to use a group of checkboxes rather than a list box. Adding Tags to Form FieldsAdd tags to the form fields.Without form tags, form fields won’t be identified and read by a screen reader. This step should only be done after all form fields have been created, and assigned appropriate Tooltips. Steps to adding correctly-ordered tags to a form:Open the?“Accessibility”?panel, select?“Autotag Document”This should add the necessary tags to the PDF, but it does not behave correctly, so additional steps are required to add the correct tags. If the “Add Tags to Form Fields” option is disabled, skip this step.160401021780500160464557213500Open the?“Tags” pane?on the left side of the window, select the?“Options”?menu, select?“Find”In the Find Element dialog, select?“Unmarked Annotations”?from the dropdown menu, select the?“Search Document”?radio button. select?“Find”??This should highlight the first untagged form field on the page. Select the?“Tag Element”?button to open a new dialog, choose?“Form”?from the dropdown list (inputting a “Title” is optional), click “OK”?Repeat these steps of adding tags to form fields until Acrobat’s search is complete. Meta-DataPay Attention to the Meta Data for all Sections and Images.Meta data should be provided for all sections of the document: title, author, subject and keyword fields, and all images.For images, alt tags need to be created. In “Print Production Tools” select the “Edit Object” tool and right-click the imageA context menu will appear, select “Properties” The “Object Properties” window will open, click the “Tag” tab. Type in the desired alternate text. Tab OrderCheck the tab order.It is important that a screen-reader reads out the form information in the same order as when you visually look over the form in Acrobat. Return to the?“Accessibility”?panel, open “Touch Up Reading Order”? tool, select the “Page content order” radio button, uncheck?“Display like elements in a single block”, select?“Show Order Panel”The “Order” pane will open in the Navigation pane (located on the left side of the Acrobat window).In the “Order” Pane you can click and drag listed items into your preferred reading order.Accessibility CheckCheck the form for accessibility and readability—run the “Accessibility Checker”. Before the document is complete, its best practice to test the form for readability and ease of navigation. Two things should be done to test the form:Accessibility Checker*Aural Testing: not completely necessary, but a good tool to be aware of 396240-2556200You may have to add Accessibility tools to your “Forms Editing” toolset. To do this: Click “Tools” in the top navigation bar of the Acrobat window (beside “Home” and “Document”) Scroll down and click “create custom tool” button 47625050689200A window pops up and a left side list “Choose tools to add” will appear. Scroll down to “Accessibility” and click the items in the drop down menu (Autotag Document, Autotag Form Fields, Reading Options, Accessibility Full Check, Accessibility Report, Identify Form Fields, Set Alternate Text, Setup Assistant, Reading Other). The selected items will be highlighted, click the arrow point to the right icon (located between the menus) to transfer the items to “Tools in Custom Set”. Click “Save” and add all the Accessibility tools to your toolset. With Accessibility tools added, the Accessibility Checker can run. 3905252667000Click “Accessibility Full Check” tool in the Tools panel. This will open a window on the left side of your Acrobat window in the “Navigation” pane with a list of all accessibility errors detected. Errors are indicated by a red circle with an x in it. Right click the error listed and a context menu will appear, click “Fix”.If for example, if you see “Title – Failed” in the Accessibility Checker Pane, right-click and select “Fix”. The “Documents Properties” will display and this is where you can add Title, Author, Subject, and Keywords. *Aural Testing: Using Read-Aloud to Test the Form.Open “Preferences”, accessed by clicking on “File” in the top navigation barUnder the “Categories” list in the window’s left pane, click “Reading” Reading Preference options will open in the window, at the bottom of this window check “Read form fields” To test how the form would be read on a screen reader, choose:Click “View” in the top navigation bar, click “Read Out Loud”, click “Activate Read Out Loud” Return to the same submenu, choose “Read This Page Only” or “Read to End of Document” Test the overall reading of the document to ensure the reading order is correct and that all images have alt tags. Next, check that all tooltips are in place and read out loud. After the document is finished being read out loud, press the tab key The cursor will jump to the first field and the tool tip will be read aloud Tab through all the tool tips to ensure accurate reading of the tool tips Final ActionsSaving. Finally, you can save your fillable form and share with others. The right pane also two options to help you manage and track your forms such as “Distribute” or “Track” Distribute: allows you to email the form to designated recipients to collect responses automatically. Track: allows you to manage your forms that have been distributed or received. It allows you to view and edit the location of the response file and track what recipients have responded.? ................
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