American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors / Laboratory Accreditation Board - International

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Tips for Using PDF Forms


Although you can fill in a PDF form while connected to the internet, we recommend you first save the form to your computer system and then fill it in “offline.” This will help prevent you from losing your information due to a network connection problem, power failure, accidentally clicking your browser’s “BACK” button, or similar unexpected occurrence. Having the form on your own computer will also allow you to use that form in the future without having to first connect to the internet.

  • Navigating the form. Use the Tab key or the Mouse to navigate the form. Press the Tab key to advance the cursor from field to field in the tab order. The Shift + Tab keys will move the cursor backwards to the previous field(s).
  • Cursor/pointer. When opening a fillable PDF form, set the cursor to the Hand Tool. When the mouse pointer is over a data entry field, the Hand Tool will change to the I-beam pointer. Click the mouse to insert the cursor into the data entry field. Over a check box, the Hand Tool will change to a Pointing Finger. Click the mouse to check the box.
  • For Check Boxes, click the mouse or use the Enter/Return key to check a check box. To remove a check, either re-check the box, or check another box in the related pair/group of check boxes.
1 Copyright © 2004 ASCLD-LAB Designed by: Anthony Romano 1