One of the many uses of PDF files is to offer a way for people to gather information via an interactive form. Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional has some nifty features for creating such forms, distributing them and tracking responses.

One of the main advantages of using PDF forms, as against, web-based forms is that the PDF will always look the same regardless of which operating system or web browser is being used.

One also has a wider variety of options when it comes to distributing PDF forms: for example, email, CD or DVD. Email, in particular offers a very direct distribution channel.

Forms are not new to Acrobat: the feature has been available since version 3. However, Acrobat 8 Professional has seen a great enhancement to the way interactive forms are handled.

Forms can be now be created from scratch in Acrobat. Just choose Create New Forms from the Forms menu and choose one of the built-in templates. The form is then created using a utility called Adobe Life Cycle Designer then saved as a PDF file.

As with previous versions of Acrobat, forms created in other packages can be used as the starting point for an Acrobat form. Acrobat 8 Professional will even automatically recognise the form layout and generate form fields automatically.

If you wish to use some of your printed forms as starting points for your interactive PDF form, then Acrobat's Scan From Paper option will offer just what you need.

Once you have the basic form created, you can add in all the standard form controls. In addition to text fields, PDF forms support combo boxes, option buttons, checkboxes and, of course, submit buttons.

Traditionally, only a full version of Acrobat would allow you to fill out a PDF form and then save the form data to disk. With Acrobat 8 professional, if you click on the "Advanced" menu and choose "Enable Usage Rights in Acrobat Reader", people filling out your form with Acrobat Reader will be able to save their form data and email it back to you.

To send the form to group of recipients via email, just choose "Distribute Form" from the "Form" menu. A Microsoft Outlook address book can be used to generate a mailing list or you can just type or paste in a list of recipients.

Returned forms are saved in a special Acrobat file called a dataset. When users complete the form and email it back to you, you simply double-click on the attached form. Acrobat opens a special window marked " Add Completed Form to Data Set".

To complete your project, after you have received back all the forms you distributed, you simply open the Acrobat dataset and click on the export button to save it as a .csv file. You can then import this file into Microsoft Excel or Access for storage and/or analysis.