Adobe Acrobat DC: Home

Official Adobe Links

Acrobat DC Tutorials

Form Field Properties

Fill and Sign

Create a Form from an Existing Document

O'Reilly/Safari Technical Books Link

Adobe Acrobat DC Classroom in a Book, 3rd Ed.

Adobe Acrobat DC is Acrobat Pro.  This is not the same as Adobe Reader as Reader has limited functionality.  Acrobat DC has several main features:

• Converts a scanned image into a PDF that can be made accessible by enabling Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
• The ability to merge scanned documents into one PDF or split a PDF into multiple files
• Create forms that can be filled out and submitted
• Compress PDFs into a smaller size
• Allow anything that can be printed to be converted into a PDF (images or Microsoft Office files)
• Do a screen capture and annotate 

Adobe Acrobat DC is available in the Trible Library Media Center.  There are also several types of scanners to use with the software.  

You can use any scanner installed on a computer to get a file directly through the create PDF from a scanner.  This brings the scan into the Acrobat interface so can edit, scan for OCR, reduce the size and export.  

Files can be created with the following selections:

Single File - single or multi-page file can be uploaded - any format.  This is the most common use of the program.

Multiple Files - multiple separate files can be uploaded to create one PDF.  Great for breaking up a larger document into smaller files for size or convenience.  

Screenshot - allow you to take a static screenshot of your computer which you can then annotate or save

Scanner - one of the most common uses - utilizes a scanner to obtain a PDF image.  Can be mulitipage.

Web Page - enter the link of a webpage to be converted into a PDF.  This can also be an HTML document you want to save as a PDF.

Clipboard - anything on your computer that has last been copied using the clipboard can be retrieved and converted

Blank Page - start from scratch

The Optimize PDF feature is found under Tools. This option gives you the ability to reduce the file size and optimize scanned pages which allows you to deskew and recognize text (OCR).  If you are looking to enable your form to be keyword searchable, this is the option to choose.  It will scan your entire document and enable OCR.  You will need to save your form to keep these properties.  

The prepare form option gives you the ability to add fields that can be filled in electronically.  Below, are the icons representing move, text field, check box, radio button, insert date, insert picture and create button among others.  There is even a field for a digital signature that can be added.  Once saved, the form has interactive elements that can then be saved when filled out.  A more advanced feature is to go to Tools -> Format -> Distribute to allow the user to send the completed for via email.  This link show you how.

Adobe Acrobat DC has the ability to check for accessibility issues and report back as to what they are.  This is used for screen readers for the disabled and to convert document to accessibility approved states.  The above icon gives several options to check for and convert to acceptable accessibility states.