FormMagic
Hassle-free interactive PDF forms straight out of InDesign
If you or your team spend time creating interactive PDF forms in InDesign, you may remember with a groan the moment it registered that designing functional and elegant form fields with carefully chosen fonts, color and default text is a waste of time because this formatting does not survive the trip from InDesign to Acrobat! All formatting must be reapplied in Acrobat, and if any edits are made to the original form in InDesign, the cycle must be repeated – again and again.
FormMagic restores sanity to this process! With FormMagic, design the form exactly as needed in InDesign, freely including font formatting, text alignment, and default form field text (even Acrobat comb fields are supported!). Ready? Export the interactive form to Acrobat, and FormMagic ensures that all these details are restored with one click!
What formatting is restored by FormMagic?
FormMagic restores:
- Font (the font is properly embedded in the PDF, unlike when you choose a font from InDesign’s Buttons and Forms panel, which relies on the end-user having exactly the same font installed on their own computer!)
- Size (you can use InDesign paragraph or character styles to apply point size (and everything else except default text) – much easier than fiddling about with the “size” field in the Buttons and Forms panel, especially if you need to make quick global changes!)
- Color
- Alignment, and
- Default text
to the form fields in your interactive PDF.
For rich text fields, it also restores:
- superscript
- subscript
- strikethrough, and
- underline formatting.
It can be used with rich text fields, regular text fields, combo boxes and list boxes.
FormMagic also allows you to rotate text fields in InDesign. The rotation will carry through to Acrobat (to the nearest 90°).
Additionally, you can create combs in InDesign with FormMagic. What is a comb? It’s a type of form field where each character is separated by a vertical line, allowing only one character per cell, like this:
|D|D|M|M|Y|Y|Y|
To create a comb in InDesign, create a form text field and separate the text inside the field with the vertical bar character (it looks like this: |). It will be converted to a comb field in Acrobat when you run FormMagic!
Demonstration
1. Here’s what a simple sample form with a few text fields might look like in InDesign.
2. Here’s what the same form will look like after it is exported from InDesign and opened in Acrobat without FormMagic. The formatting in the fields that was there in InDesign has been lost: wrong font, no color, and the text that is shown had to be typed manually in Acrobat.
3. After running FormMagic on this form in Acrobat, here’s what it looks like!
The formatting is restored, and the PDF form looks like it did in InDesign! The font is correct, the same text color is preserved, the default text is there, and notice also that the ZIP field has been automatically converted into an Acrobat comb field (one number per cell).
FormMagic and FormMaker can do much more than this. But this demonstrates the basic idea!
How to Use FormMagic
After you’ve downloaded and installed FormMagic (see below), create and style your interactive form in InDesign.
1. Run the FormMagic script in InDesign (double-click on it in the Scripts panel). If all is well, you will see an alert saying that the data has been successfully stored.
2. Continue by exporting the PDF form from InDesign as usual for interactive PDF forms, and open in Acrobat. In Acrobat, select the new FormMagic command (Edit>FormMagic – it’s a new entry at the bottom of the Edit menu).
Finished! All the formatting and styling you applied to your form in InDesign is restored to the interactive PDF form in Acrobat Pro!
3. When the interactive PDF is ready for distribution, optionally run the “Purge FormMagic data” command at the bottom of the Edit menu in Acrobat. This will purge FormMagic data from the PDF, thereby reducing the final PDF file size.
User Guide
To browse the full product documentation, click here.
Download the Free Edition of FormMagic
Fill in the form below to download FormMagic Free Edition and give it a test drive.
The Free Edition is identical to the Pro edition, except that it is limited to a single-page form, and up to 10 form fields only.
Installation Instructions
In the download package of FormMagic you will find separate installation instructions (PDF) for macOS or Windows. Follow these instructions carefully. They will tell you how to install FormMagic on your computer.
If you need help installing FormMagic on your computer, please contact us.
If you have installed the two FormMagic scripts correctly, by copying them to the correct folders on your computer, you will see a new entry in your InDesign scripts panel called FormMagic, and in Acrobat you will see a new entry at the bottom of the Edit menu called “FormMagic”.
Important note for all users of the latest version of Acrobat (version 2023): If you are using the latest version of Acrobat, you must disable the new UI. See the installation instructions PDF for more information.
FormMaker Pro
FormMaker Pro includes everything that comes with FormMagic, but adds the possibility of adding Acroscripts to forms, directly within InDesign. So if you need to add validation scripts, calculation scripts, formatting scripts, or scripts triggered by keyboard or mouse events to your PDF form, FormMaker Pro allows you to add them directly in InDesign, again avoiding the crazy round-trip between Acrobat and InDesign whenever edits are made.
Subscribe to the yearly plan of FormMaker Pro and receive FREE assistance with writing the basic Javascripts needed for your interactive PDF forms! (Terms and conditions apply, please inquire.)
Click here to see an example of how FormMaker was used to add an Acroscript in InDesign that converts a user’s input into all-capital letters (just one of limitless possibilities).
Amanda
November 28, 2020 4:09 amHi, I just purchased FormMagic and even though my text is centered in my combo box in InDesign 2021, when I export to Acrobat and choose Edit–>FormMagic, the alignment is not being preserved. I have tried different fonts and they work just fine, but the alignment will not. Please help.
Ariel
December 1, 2020 11:03 pmHi Amanda,
Unfortunately, Acrobat does not a provide any way of centering text in a combo box. Since it cannot be done manually in Acrobat, FormMagic can’t do it either. (See https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat/how-to-align-the-text-of-a-drop-down-menu-box-centered-or-right/td-p/9858832?page=1)
Ariel
Rudolf
July 31, 2020 9:33 amPlease, i want to try FormMagic Free, but i am unable to unzip downloaded “FormMagicEditon.zip”, using two tools (Archive Utility and Keka, on macOS 10.14.6), and several times downloads, same result: “Unable to expand “FormMagicFreeEdition.zip” into “Desktop”. (Error 2 – No such file or directory.)”
Ariel
October 21, 2020 12:57 amHi Rudolf,
Sorry for the delayed response. Did you get this to work in the end?
Ariel
InDesigner
August 1, 2019 5:04 pmI thought that this is now a built-in feature in Adobe InDesign 2019. But I realize I was wrong! Although you can set a font in forms in InDesign now, it is not embedded in the PDF. With FormMagic it is. (And also there’s so much more you can do with FormMagic that isn’t available at all in even the latest versions of InDesign!)
Great product, and thanks for the free version!
Andrew Hodgson
November 30, 2018 7:31 pmCan Form Magic work with InDesign Books? So If I create separate InDesign files and use the book feature, how can I make the forms look correct in Acrobat?
Ariel
December 2, 2018 2:25 amHi Andrew,
FormMagic can be used even if you’re building your document with InDesign’s book feature, but it’s not made for it, so it requires some extra steps. Basically, create your forms in each book document as usual, and run FormMagic in InDesign separately on each InDesign file in the book. (Make sure to call fields by different names! If you rely on InDesign’s default names, it could well be that some fields are inadvertently given duplicate names, causing havoc in the form; perhaps InDesign is smart enough to avoid this for book files, I don’t know.)
When exporting to PDF, you will not, unfortunately, be able to export all files at once as a single PDF. Rather, export each file to interactive PDF separately (don’t use the book feature for this — just export each file separately). Then run FormMagic on each file in Acrobat, separately. (You can also create a batch action in Acrobat for this, so that FormMagic is run on all files in a particular folder; for more details see here: http://www.id-extras.com/formmagic-creating-a-batch-action-in-acrobat.)
Finally, combine all the files in Acrobat to create a single document.
So, it is doable — and using FormMagic will save huge amounts of time in any case — but there are those extra steps involved with an InDesign book file.
If you would like to discuss the possibility of adding Book support to FormMagic as a custom feature, feel free to get in touch.
AlanM
October 4, 2018 10:34 pmHi Ariel,
and thank you for these great scripts.
Just being able to format text fields is saving me a lot of time.
But i’ve another question now that i’m going a bit further.
It’s about a question i already ask in 2017 before buying formmaker pro :
i need to add a “on mouse release” action that runs a javascript and hides another field.
I was able to do this in acrobat and understood i had to paste the codes in the Script label panel in InDesign.
But your example in the blog is made with validation script, not “on mouse…” action.
Could you please give me more details about the syntax i need to use in ID Script label panel
Thanks
Alan
Ariel
October 4, 2018 10:44 pmHi Alan,
You’re right – the blog post is a bit outdated: it was written in the days when FormMaker could only do one type of script, but now, as you point out, FormMaker can do ’em all!
The full details are at the bottom of the Help page, here: http://www.id-extras.com/help/formmagic
In your case, you’re looking to add a “mouse up” script. So, in InDesign’s Scripts Label panel, do the following:
It’s as simple as that! Simply type “MouseUp” in the initial comment line. The other options are: MouseUp, MouseDown, MouseEnter, MouseExit, OnFocus, OnBlur, Keystroke, Validate, Calculate, Format. So that’s 10 options.
And of course you can add multiple scripts of different types per field. Just begin each script with //FormMaker-MouseUp (or whatever type you want), and end it with //FormMaker-End.
Ruby
August 31, 2018 6:04 amAriel, this script is awesome!!! thank you so much for your help.
Once I have a need for longer forms, I’ll definitely purchase. Great script. How come indesign never thought of it? You guys are great.
Thank you again!
Dan B
June 26, 2018 9:55 pmBecause this is a subscription service, do I need to be connected to the internet to use it? I do a lot of work remotely and on-the-go, and I don’t always have the greatest wifi. Is purchasing this by subscription the only option? :-\
Ariel
June 26, 2018 11:29 pmHi Dan,
Thanks for leaving a comment. No, it is not necessary to always be connected – if there ever isn’t a connection, a 5-day grace period kicks in, so you would have 5 days to find a connection.
If even that is a problem, we can sort something else out — get in touch.
Patrick
May 16, 2018 3:30 pmHey Guys, great tool. Thanks. Question: Can I buy FormMagic only for 1 or 2 months?
Ariel
May 16, 2018 3:35 pmHi Partick,
Yes, you can unsubscribe at any time.
We’re confident, though, that once your clients see the speed and quality of the interactive PDF forms you’re making, they’ll keep coming back for more 😉
Frank Reinders
May 16, 2018 9:27 amHi Ariel,
Thanks for creating such an useful script. Was looking for this multiple times. I’ve tested the free script and it works very good.
But i’ve got a question anyway: Is it possible to have multiple lines of text in one textfield? In my original InDesign document i’ve created textfields where users can fill in 4 lines of text per question. However, when I export the PDF with the script (and run the script in Acrobat as well) the textfields turn into only 1 line of text and not 4. Is this possible? Hope to hear from you (very) soon 🙂
Ariel
May 16, 2018 1:52 pmThe issue is resolved by checking the box in InDesign’s Buttons and Forms panel that says “multiline”. So not really a FormMagic issue per se.
Lovedoris
March 20, 2018 8:16 amFantastic scripts; they do exactly what they are supposed to! Great work and much appreciated 🙂