NovaPDF Pro Question - Can It Do Form Filling?

[J-Mac]

Hopefully we have some users of NovaPDF here at DC, since we do have the discount available.

I have been all over their web site and cannot determine whether or not it has the ability to fill forms on an existing PDF document.  I submitted a pre-sales request to them on a web form at their site but have not heard back from them. (Maybe not a good thing? I hope they are a little more responsive with support requests!)

Anyway, can any NovaPDF users here tell me if the program allows filling forms on existing PDF files? Like when you have a loooong form - insurance application, mail-in prescription form, etc. - and prefer not to print it and write it all out by hand each time. Instead fill in all fields by typing in them and then be able to save it for future use?

Thanks.

Jim

[tomos]

I got an email the other day (as a Backup4all owner) "HappyHolidays" newsletter also with 30% off Nova PDF (just BTW)

I actually installed the Nova trial a while back - didnt use it much but I believe it's "simply" a pdf creator (probably a fancy one, but not for form filling)

Have you tried PDF-XChange Viewer? - the free version allows form filling but I'm not sure how versatile it is (if you move on from one field to the next, the previous one is no longer editable, still not bad for free!)

I know it was discussed on some thread here too if you search

[J-Mac]

Thanks tomos. I do use PDF-XChange Viewer now, actually - the free viewer, too. It starts to do forms but then as you said, it gets a little weird now and then! And I can't save forms and re-use them without encountering a lot of uh-oh's.

I also have Scansoft PDF Converter Pro 3 and it can do all that I want - WHEN it will start and run without crashing!! It is the single most buggy application I have ever used - and I try a LOT of applications! That plus no help at all from Scansoft (now Nuance) is making me really want to switch. PDF Converter Pro 3 also sets itself up as the default PDF viewer for IE6. And I can't change it! If I do disable the IE plug-in and set up another reader, then IE crashes and will not start again.

So it is time for a new PDF Form Filling program for me. I use that feature a lot. NovaPDF refers to that feature in their knowledge Base a couple of times, but the features list does not mention it at all - and I would think that they would definitely want to blow their horn about it if it could fill forms.

And like I said, they haven't responded to my inquiry yet. Only two days so far but it's a real simple yes/no question that I thought would be an easy one for them. Oh well - off to search for more!

Thanks tomos!

Jim

[Cuffy]

From Roboform......

Filling Long Forms from Identities
Quality Artificial Intelligence
RoboForm is really smart in filling in forms; it is the most precise form filler on the market. We use Artificial Intelligence techniques to achieve this kind of precision and we test RoboForm thoroughly.

Not Limited Only to Forms it Knows in Advance
RoboForm can read and fill any form, even a form that it has never seen before. This is because RoboForm does what humans do when they fill a form -- it parses the form, "understands" it and makes field filling decisions.

Multiple Identities
You can have many Identities and you can easily switch between them. Your identities do not have to be real persons. Use fake Identities -- preserve your privacy.

Contact: a Small Identity
Contact is a small Identity that usually is not offered for form filling. You can use Contacts to create your own Address Book, with folder tree structure.

Multiple Credit Cards, Addresses, even Persons in Each Identity
Every group of fields found in Identity (Credit Card, Address, Bank Account, Person) can have multiple instances. That is, you can have several credit cards, addresses and persons (usually members of one group) in one Identity.

Selective Form Filling
You can ask RoboForm to fill just a part of your form, rather than the complete form. Simply select (highlight) the fields that you want RoboForm to fill and click any form filling button -- only the selected fields will be filled.

Filling Selection and Radio Button Fields
RoboForm correctly fills selection fields presented as drop-down lists of items. Example: if you car expiration date is in February, RoboForm will select "Feb" or "February" or even "02" in the field. It handles radio buttons in a similar fashion.

Filling Partitioned Fields
RoboForm also fills out fields that are divided into several sub-fields. Example: the "Phone Number" field could be in 3 fields of 3+3+4 digits, 2 fields of 3+7 digits, or one field of 10 digits. Roboform fills out all of these correctly.

User-Defined Custom Fields
In each Identity you can have custom fields for which you specify the field caption that is used to recognize the field.

Country-Sensitive Form Filling
RoboForm can fill forms in multiple languages, not just in English. List of supported languages is available at the Translation Page.
RoboForm lets you select the country you are in, and then it customizes its form filling rules based on the traditions of your country. For instance, it knows that in the US the date format is MM/DD/YY but that in the UK it is DD/MM/YY.

Machine Translation: Just a Little Bit
You can set the selection value in one language (for example: you create your Identity with Titre "Monsieur" in French) and RoboForm will correctly fill this value in any language that it can handle. For example: it would put "Herr" into the Titel field in a German form.

[J-Mac]

Wake up Cuffy!!

I have had RoboForm since the beginning. How does that help me with this?  I think maybe you misunderstood my post.

Thanks for the thought, though.

Jim

[lanux128]

these forms you want to fill-up, are they scanned from a paper form? i haven't used but often heard of Foxit PDF Editor.

[johnfdeluca]

Don't know about Nova PDF but I use PDFFill for filling in PDF forms.  Works pretty well.

[J-Mac]

Lanux128, johnfdeluca:

I corresponded with Claudiu of BackUp4All - they are apparently also involved with novaPDF - and he confirmed that novaPDF is only a PDF Creator; it cannot perform any editing at all with already created PDF documents. No form-filling, no taking a poorly implemented user manual, for example, and adding bookmarks or TOC hyperlinks (another thing I normally do with Scansoft PDF Converter), no extracting a PDF to Word.  It is very basic. It does what if can do very well, but it cannot do the things I am looking for a PDF program to do.

So I keep on looking.

Lanux: I used Foxit Reader a long time ago, when it was in beta.  Nice reader, but it had some printing problems back then. Since then it has become a commercial application. Which I have no problem with at all. But if you take a look at their product page, maybe you can tell me which version can perform which features!  That page is a mess, at least in my eyes! On one hand, it appears that Foxit Reader Pro is supposed to do it all; like a "Catch-all" wrap-up of all their offerings. Yet the price of Reader Pro compared to the sum of all the other versions' pricing is so far off that I am pretty sure it does not have all the features. I really cannot tell which does which; which one or ones I would need to purchase. Any developer that has all of the features of what could be one single "Pro" application split out all over the place like that, i stay away from! (I already am tied up with a software that is just like that - Applian - and it is too much work to stay updated! Never again!)

johnf: I have never heard of PDFFill. I'll go take a look at it now.

Thanks folks!

Jim

[J-Mac]

Don't know about Nova PDF but I use PDFFill for filling in PDF forms.  Works pretty well.

Hey John, you say you are using PDFFill and that it works pretty well...  How about a quick and dirty mini-review?

• Can you list what you see as its Pros and Cons?  Good things and bad things you have seen.

• What does it do that you really like?  What does it do well?

• What is there about it that you don't like?  What would you change/fix if it were up to you?

• It is pretty inexpensive; is it worth it?

Thanks!

Jim

[lanux128]

yes, Foxit Reader has that effect. in fact, i only use the freeware PDF reader but i'm keen to know which application that you end up with.. btw, this site looks like worth a visit for all PDF conundrums, maybe you'll find here a good form-filler..

• Planet PDF

[J-Mac]

yes, Foxit Reader has that effect. in fact, i only use the freeware PDF reader but i'm keen to know which application that you end up with.. btw, this site looks like worth a visit for all PDF conundrums, maybe you'll find here a good form-filler..

• Planet PDF

I'll take a look at that site.

BTW, I used the Foxit Reader back in the beta days too.  But have you looked at the purchase/pricing pages? Tough to tell which version does what there, IMO.

Jim

[lanux128]

BTW, I used the Foxit Reader back in the beta days too.  But have you looked at the purchase/pricing pages? Tough to tell which version does what there, IMO.

yes, things are quite hazy but i'm not so keen into Foxit products since the early days of the free reader. i keep a copy in my thumb drive, just in case but that's all.
as far as PDF readers are concerned, i've made my peace with Adobe and currently use version 6 with some tweaks. For PDF creation, i have novaPDF lite and form-filling is one area that i am looking into but my needs are slightly different..

btw, i found two links from PlanetPDF:
• CutePDF Form Filler
• PDF Filler