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Creating accessible forms for download

Find out how to create accessible forms suitable for publishing on our website.

Creating an accessible form

The most user friendly downloadable forms are writable PDFs. These are documents that have editable fields for users to complete. The best way to create these is through a combination of MS Word and Adobe Acrobat.

Creating accessible Word documents

If you are looking for more general advice on setting up a Word document, or are looking to insert a form into a Word document, view creating an accessible Word document first.

Creating an accessible form is easiest using a Windows computer. Windows MS Word has better tools for creating editable fields than the Mac OSX version which is limited to legacy tools at the moment. It is possible to create them using a Mac, some extra steps are detailed at the end of this page.

Creating the accessible form in MS Word - Step 1:

• Text entry fields
  • Write the question or title for the form field. This can be set in a table or some other styling element.
  • Click on the Developer tab in the Ribbon.
  • In the Controls section of the Ribbon choose Plain Text Content Control. This will place a text box on your page.
  • Highlight the text box and click Properties in the Ribbon.
  • Write a Title for the text box. This will be read out by a screen reader, so explain to the user what they need to include in the text box.
  • Select OK.
• Check boxes
  • Write the question or title for the form field. This can be set in a table or some other styling element.
  • Click on the Developer tab in the Ribbon.
  • In the Controls section of the Ribbon choose Check Box Content Control. This will place a check box on your page.
  • Highlight the check box and click Properties in the Ribbon.
  • Write a Title for the check box. This will be read out by a screen reader so explain to the user what the check box relates to.
  • Select OK.
• Drop-down selection boxes
  • Write the question or title for the form field. This can be set in a table or some other styling element.
  • Click on the Developer tab in the Ribbon.
  • In the Controls section of the Ribbon choose Drop Down List Content Control. This will place a drop down list on your page.
  • Highlight the drop-down-list and click Properties in the Ribbon.
  • Write a Title for the drop down list. This will be read out by a screen reader so explain to the user what the drop-down options relate to.
  • To add items to the drop-down list click Add. A pop-up window will appear allowing you to enter a Display Name and/or value for each item.
  • Select OK when you have added all items to the list.
• Date pickers
  • Write the question or title for the form field. This can be set in a table or some other styling element.
  • Click on the Developer tab in the Ribbon.
  • In the Controls section of the Ribbon choose Date Picker Content Control. This will place a date picker on your page.
  • Highlight the date picker and click Properties in the Ribbon.
  • Write a Title for the date picker. This will be read out by a screen reader so explain to the user what the chosen date relates to.
  • There are a series of other options in which you can pick the date style, calendar and location.
  • Select OK.

Setting options

For each of these elements you can set more specifics such as multi-line text, font size, font etc in the properties window.

Remember to make the form entry boxes big enough that users can see the text that they are entering. This particularly applies to multiline entry boxes. These will not grow as text is added, the user will have to scroll up and down in the allocated space to read what has been entered.

Finalising the accessible form in Adobe Acrobat - Step 2:

First ensure that you have set-up Adobe Acrobat as per the instructions in our creating accessible PDFs guidance

Preparing the form:

Whether you have exported your Word document as a PDF or not the next steps are the same.

If you do not have the form preparation tools then follow these steps:

• select Tools in the taskbar
• scroll down to Forms & Signatures
• drag the icon for Prepare Form to the tool box on the right of the screen

Click the Prepare Form icon in your tool box. Then select your file that you want to convert to a PDF form.

Hopefully, if you have done everything right in Word all of your form fields will have been detected.

Checking the form:

You will need to check that the form fields have been created properly. To do so, follow these steps:

• click Prepare Form in your tool box (if you are not already in this mode). This should highlight all forms on your page
• right click on the first box. Choose Properties. This will open the properties window
• Each form box should have a unique name (found on the General tab)
• Each form field should have tooltip text which is descriptive and read out by a screen reader, or when the user hovers over the field with their cursor
• The options, appearance and positions tabs allow control over the form fields (such as multi-line input, font, font size etc)

Once you have checked all of the form fields and are happy, you will need to follow our guidelines on accessible PDFs to check for accessibility.

Creating forms using a Mac

It is possible to create forms using a Mac, but further steps are required.

• when creating the form in MS Word, rather than adding the form entry fields here, leave a space large enough to accomodate the form entry fields.
• complete the document and prepare the form in Adobe Acrobat as described above.
• to add the form fields enter Prepare form mode from the tool box. At the top of the screen there will be a series of tools for adding form fields to the document. Choose the one you require and place it on the screen.
• use the properties window to give a unique name and tooltip text. Here you can also style the box, such as adding borders, multi-line text, fonts etc
• once you have added all of your fields and are happy, you will need to follow our guidelines on accessible PDFs to check for accessibility.