Introduction

Within Adobe Acrobat, you can create fillable form fields in two ways: AcroForms or XFA Forms. In either case, UnicornForms will detect those fields and convert them to our format.

Example

A good example would be an IRS document, such as a W-2 or W-9 or 1099. These documents already have fillable form fields, but are not configured for batch sending via an API or CSV file. No problem, simply upload your PDF into UnicornForms and we will detect the form fields:

Detecting Fields

UnicornForms will detect text fields and checkboxes. If a label is present, we will also detect the label. However, many authors of AcroForms and XFA Forms do not properly label their form fields. This creates a challenge for the mobile optimized Form View. It's less of an issue in the Document View. 

After upload, check the following:

• Check if all fields were properly detected and remove any false positives
• Label fields with easy to read names
• Change field types to handle particular data, such as dates or select options
• Make fields required as needed

Once properly set up, you've got a template you can use again and again with ease.