Document with limited editable fields.

Factual Questions
1

I’m interested in creating an electronic document lease with limited editable fields. I am willing to spend a small amount of money, say $100. I was using Foxit Phantom PDF editor that came with my ASUS notebook that seemed to fit the target, but I’ve since used up it’s free trial period, and I can’t really remember if it was adequate for the task.

Can anyone recommend a free or low cost software to create such a document. Would the lessee be able to open the PDF in a PDF reader such as Adobe Reader and edit the editable fields?

I guess a word processing doc readable in LibreOffice with limited editable fields would also work if such a beast exists.

2

You can do this in MSWord, if you have Office installed. You can create your document, with fields, and restrict editing to entering text or numbers in the fields.

One thing - if security is an issue, it takes about five minutes for someone with knowledge of how a docx file works to remove all restrictions. If that matters, Acrobat is better.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

3

Have you tried Google Docs or Google Forms? Both are free so you could at least check them out to see if you can get them to do what you want.

4

LibreOffice allows you to create fields in the source document that will become editable form fields when converted to PDF, so you don’t need to create them in something like Acrobat or Phantom.

Regarding saving, users with the desktop versions of Reader 11 (XI) or Reader DC will be able to save the filled-in forms. Users with prior versions will be able to fill-in the form and prints, but won’t be able to save, unless you somehow are able to Reader-enable them with Acrobat. This is just an additional step you take before distributing the form. They will also be able to save with certain other forms-capable PDF viewers like Foxit Reader.

5

On behalf of the whole internet, please don’t make it a Word doc. It’s such a hassle to open. Make it a PDF, or a Google Form/SurveyMonkey thing if possible.

Fillable PDF options:

Free online form editor (import PDF, add form fields to it, save to your computer again):

Adobe Creative Cloud free trial: http://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/start-with-free-creativecloud.html

$20 desktop software that makes perfectly serviceable PDF forms:

6

Thanks for the answers. I’ll screw around with these options and see if I can get one to work to my satisfaction.

7

I’ve seen people increasingly move to Hello Sign for legally binding documents. It saves a lot of the hassle of managing documents and making sure both people have a copy etc. and is super easy to use.