[X-Apps] PDF as medium for questionnaires?

[Doug McNutt]

At 07:12 -0800 11/29/03, Jim Robertson wrote:
>My understanding is that pdf's can be created such that they're DESIGNED to
>allow input from the reader

An example is the "fill out" forms published by the US Internal Revenue Service.

The problem, as of last April, was that the only way to save the data after filling out the form was to print it.  And. . . the reader would not even allow printing to PDF.

With the full version of Acrobat it is possible to save the form data as a *.fdf file and that works out well but it's not free. The fdf format is published though and it's possible to fill out the forms with a spreadsheet if you have Acrobat to crack the definitions in the download.

Adobe could make a real mark  by making it easy and free to fill out an IRS form, save the *.fdf data, and send only that to the government over some secure channel.

Sigh. Simple ideas never make it.

-- 
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