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* PDF forms having the send-data option send data to LCC only with the Windows operating system with Adobe Reader set to open within your browser.  The Mac OS does not send data via PDF forms, but still works to permit viewing PDF files.

PDF Q&A and Tips

Your own tips, suggestions, or questions are invited. Send such items to webmaster@josephfaust.com for enhancement of this tool for all of us. Thank you.

The PDFs are strong communication devices. The webmaster is often the "I" person in some of these notes.  Have tip or question?

Please upgrade to free Adobe Reader 5.0 for the PDFs:

Top concern:
Once getting the free Adobe Reader, open it while off the Net and directly by itself; open it from your program list---often it will have an icon in your Start list.   You will want to "configure" a couple of things inside the Reader's options.  In the Reader's options or preferences, find a checkbox that lets you tell the Reader "to open in browser".    Why?   The reason is this: later when on the Net and you click on a PDF file or form link on some web site, you very well may want to send data through the PDF form; to do that, the PDF file or form needs to be "framed" by your browser (I.E. or Netscape).  Then while connected to the net AND having the form framed by the browser, the data-sending works to send data over the Net to the configured recipient, say LifeCoachingCenter.com   If you have configured Adobe Reader properly, then when clicking a link at a web page that hyperlinks to a PDF file, the browser and Reader will coordinate to the result that the browser stays dominate and actually frames the Adobe Reader's capture of the linked file.    Such is the common configuration.       Once this configuration is made, then you will not have to do the configuring again unless you get some new version of the Reader.         This does not prevent you from going to your programs and working with the Reader offline; however, opening the Reader by itself will not let you send data in apparently active forms. 

Here is a screen print of Adobe Reader 5   (You will be getting version 6 probably and you may see something slightly different). Search the Readers options and preferences for the place where you will tell the Reader how to relate to browsers:  Your path in your Reader version might be slightly different. Here is one path:  Open Reader along from your Programs. Upper "Edit". Then "Preferences". Then
 "Options". Then put a check in the boxes needed. Then press the "OK" button to set your choices. . Then close out the Reader fully. Maybe reboot your computer Then open the Net connection and a browser, I.E. or Netscape.  Go to our coaching forms and click a link for a PDF form; the browser should stay while having in its content space a version of the Reader ---framed in the browser---; thus you will see at the top of your window ---first a set of controls for your browser and beneath that a set of special PDF   Reader controls; use the special Reader controls to manipulate parameters of the PDF file.   Sending data on our interactive forms should then work and send data to LifeCoachingCenter.com       You will usually get a confirming Thank You page from us when the sending is actually working.
click to see large image

Using Fillable Forms

1. Open the form by selecting the link. If you have Adobe Reader 4.0 or higher, it will open the .pdf  document and have it ready for filling in your original responses.  If the form does not open within your I.E. or Netscape browser, then data won't be sent to your LCC coach. To configure your Adobe Reader so that it opens PDF forms within the browser, see below on this file for some guide.
2. Select the Hand tool if it isn't already selected.
3. Position the cursor (it will change to an I-beam) inside a form field, and click. (NOTE: If the form field is a button, a check box, a radio button, or an item from a list, the cursor changes to an arrow.)
4. After entering text (or selecting an item, check box, or radio button), do one of the following:
   Press Tab to accept the form field change and go to the next form field. (Using Tab is very useful on some of the LCC forms.)
   Use the mouse to select the next form field.
5. Once you have filled in the appropriate form fields, print out the completed form before you press the Send button.
6. If you find a LCC form to be a fill and send kind, you have the sending as optional; you might wish only to print.
7. Upon using the Send button that might be in the form itself, a thank you page will occur---that is also a signal that your data was sent to the LCC destination.

On some Life Coaching Forms data can be sent to LCC; but you are invited to print before you press the Send button or else you can lose your composition effort and time and maybe ideas!  You can't save the filled-in form unless you have the Acrobat Business Tools from Adobe.

Q.. What is the most frequent challenge when first using Adobe Reader for our PDF forms?
A.  The Reader first opened has some settings that are set by the user. Find the setting that gives the option to "open in Browser"; that needs to be set when using our PDF data-sending forms.  AND be sure to obtain Adobe Reader 6.0 or 6.0.

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Q. My computer sometimes just stops when I call the self-care form.

A.  The 200 kb PDF file dailysc.pdf or dailysc-guest.pdf may not punch through when a person's  connection is during high Net traffic or if local computer is too busy.  I recommend that one have just one browser open and no other programs in multi-tasking.

Best best for the local computer  is to open to the forms just after fresh booting without having started other activities if a challenge is met.   Of course broadband or DSL would bring a different experience.

See if a dialogue box is open, perhaps hidden behind the window you are viewing.

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Q: The forms send data to Joseph only when "Send to Joseph" button is pushed, correct?
A: Correct. A client may fill and print. No data is sent until the "Send to Joseph" button is pushed.

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Q: Can I save the pdf to my home computer?
A: Only if you have purchased the Adobe Acrobat (the free Reader does not permit saving). You may print. You may send the full PDF file by your e-mail or by your fax, but the filled data won't be sent.  When the forms send data to Joseph, the input data is extracted to a text file and such is printed in his e-mail.    Differently you may use "Print Screen", but that gives only a bitmap and not the active page.  But, many browsers and cache copies of the the queried PDF will keep your local copy active for you and even keep your recent edits in place from day to day if you do not erase your cache; I am not sure of this matter. Experiment

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Tips & tools:

• Avoid trying to access a PDF while framed within Hotmail or other e-mail program. Rather, reach the absolute URL of the form by using the hyperlinks off our index pages.  Start at http://www.josephfaust.com/coachingforms/index.html   The framing that occurs by Hotmail very well may foul good communication with the PDF file and Adobe Reader.
   
• If you experience slowness of typing in a form, then please consider closing all other programs so your computer's temporary memory is dedicated to the session with the PDF form.   Some computers may need to reboot and keep only the one  PDF task active.  
   
• The PDFs may work with Adobe Reader 4.0, however we recommend the free upgrade to 5.0. Thank you.

• Are there Mac issues? Not sure yet.

• Are there AOL issues? Not sure yet.

• Print to paper BEFORE pressing the "Send to Joseph" button. After sending data to Joseph, the form backed into may reset itself and your work may be lost; this does not happen in all browsers. Safe step: print your private copy to paper before pressing the send button.  CAUTION:  The little space on our forms that say Print before Sending  is not an active button; that message is a reminder only; if you wish to print, then consider using your browser FILE ---PRINT menu.

• e-mail and name fields are required. e-mail must be in the e-mail field; a syntax error could cause loss of data input requiring placing the data or messages in the fields again; please print to paper before sending the data to protect your time and effort.

• Sending is always optional.

• Normal lowercase typing  with capitalization where proper gives more space and higher readability at Joseph's end and at your end when you make a copy or receive a copy.

• At selection boxes one may use keyboard down arrow to progress to the selection in lieu of mouse-cursor selecting; conclude the choice in the down arrow method a TAB to the next data-entry field. This method will probably be needed in some browsers on the lower selection of priority values on the Get Current form.

• Clicking a small yellow box erases what  you have entered in an associated field. Caution: some forms have a master reset button that erases data placed in all the fields, except not the e-mail and name (direct deletion is needed to edit those fields).

• The local computer cache may keep the entered data in the fields while the browser is still active; so, if you are on a public computer, be sure to log out of the session and close the browser or window holding the PDF file.

• Using the Tab key will make going from one field to the next a pleasant experience. Shift Key + Tab Key can reverse this process.

• The menu on the left  of a PDF has many uses, but to get it out of the way, the Reader menu has a little icon that causes that to be hidden or to reappear; this will give the full screen to the page's content.

• Scrolling select boxes for dates, day: scroll to see selection, but ALSO then click on the actual item to confirm selection. The confirming click on the item is necessary; the action says that you are choosing the item definitely.

• Did you notice how the Reader has a neat enlarging tool! Fine print can be enlarged to 1600%. You can set the enlargement to a comfort level while filling in small type.

• You have a highlighter that yellow highlights things on the PDF page. Try it. Does it print? Depends. Highlighting does not get sent to Joseph.

• And there is a circling device. You can circle things. But the circle does not mark over a form data-entry field. But more!

• Some data-entry fields on forms are required; trying to send will bring a pause and a notice of the required field to be given some attention.

• After correctly clicking the Send button, if you do, there will be a seemingly inactive pause while your local browser sends out data to eastern USA, reads the data in a robot file that creates an e-mail to Joseph and also sends back through the Net a thankyou page to you; this takes Net time --faster at times and slower at times. Multiple pushes of the Send may slow things down and may cause an error. Hopefully you printed a paper copy before pressing the Send. Also, explore the little floppy disk icon in the Reader ---if it is active you may save the PDF but right now your data will not be saved into the copy of the PDF.  Saving experience may differ; this needs to be more fully explored.

• On the Seven Day Planner hour fields, if ENTER was pressed 4 times and you wish to to go back to the 1st or 2nd or 3rd. line, please explore using up arrow or mouse cursor to go to the lines. And then also ENTER will not work in that hour field any further; the max. line carriage returns with ENTER is 4. We think this solves a small challenge that shows up when one is form 15 minute designs within an hour field. Up and down arrow and cursor placement with mouse lets one back edit the line 1 or line 2 or line 3 or line 4 after the maximum number of allowed carriage returns were installed by having pressed the ENTER 4 times."

• Seven Day Planner --- consider using the Adobe screen enlarging tool at a % you enjoy. If you wish to reset the planning for just one day, then the separate day resets are available at the lower edge of the page.
   
• Calendar month fields? The larger field is set to receive only 6 uses of the Enter key. If you want to use Enter again, then use cursor select to find the ghostly Enter effort (that makes a line use) and delete that ghostly line.  Then you have won yourself another use of the Enter key.
   
• If you or anyone gets a new version of the Adobe Reader,  then I suspect that freshly one is to open  out-of-browser  the Reader and choose in its preferences  that is, "open in browser".  Then close the Reader.  Then later opening a Net call to a .pdf  will have the Reader be framed  within the browser.   This is a reminder of something we have cycled before,  but this only needs to be configured once per new Reader.   But maybe a former version's setting will be  adopted by the new Reader download---I do not know. ...But unless a Reader is so configured, then a user will not be able to send out  the data on your Send buttons.
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• Data not being sent?  (Be sure connection to Net is active) Re: Client's  SSL and Adobe Reader challenge. The Adobe Reader is one challenge, perhaps. Is the Reader opening our PDFs framed in the browser or not? That is a key question. Data will not be sent unless our PDFs open within  a browser (I.E. or Netscape probably) where the Adobe Reader is captured inside the browser. If the Reader is not windowed inside IE or Netscape, then we need to tell the Adobe Reader to so open.  See HOW: HOW to tell Adobe Reader what to do when calling PDFs from the Net: Separately (close all browsers) and then find the Reader on the computer ----separate from browsers.  CAUTION: various versions of Reader have shorter or longer path to the "Options" target. One path for some versions of Adobe Reader: Start, Programs, Adobe Reader, Edit, Preferences, General, Options  and then: [ See check box  [ x] Display PDF in Browser; also have checked the other 3 boxes in the Web Browser set of  options there;  then press OK at bottom].  Then close the Adobe Reader.    Then open I.E. browser or Netscape browser; go to a coaching form at LifeCoachingCenter.com   and see if the file opens within the browser (that is, the upper right hand corner will still show the logo for IE or Netscape). There would be two sets of controls, one for the IE or Netscape  and then below that some controls for the Reader. Another path for some versions of Adobe Reader  (PC here. Mac might well seem different. ) Start, Programs, Adobe Reader, Edit Preferences Options and then see the four check boxes for browser concerns; have all four checked. Then press the OK  button at the bottom.     Then close the Adobe Reader.    Then open I.E. browser or Netscape browser; go to a coaching form at LifeCoachingCenter.com   and see if the file opens within the browser (that is, the upper right hand corner will still show the logo for IE or Netscape). There would be two sets of controls, one for the IE or Netscape  and then below that some controls for the Reader. DIFFERENTLY NOW IS THE SSL QUESTION  (PC here. Mac might well seem different.) SSL in PC [Mac might well seem different.] Start Control Panel Internet Options [ Inside the little window we will look at two tabs] [click "Security" and in that space set security at "Medium" and press OK or "Apply"; this will drop you away from the Internet Options] In Control Panel again click on Internet Options (again) Click now the tab "Advanced" In the "Advanced" tab there are scores of options; look down to the group that has the subtitle "Security" and look at the two option boxes: [x] Use SSL 2.0 [x] Use SSL 3.0 Have the checks as just shown. Press the "OK" button.

Your suggestions about forms or questions about their use are invited. Adobe offers considerable help online also.