Hallelujah! I just found software to make ATX organizers fillable!

[Abby Normal]

I downloaded Foxit PhantonPDF Standard and ran Form Field Recognition and it did a fabulous job making the organizer fillable! Each organizer will have to be opened and converted separately, but I can have an intern type do this. A big organizer took about 20 seconds and a small one took less than 1 seconds to convert.

[Abby Normal]

The checkboxes aren't checkboxes so you can't just click it to answer yes or no, and the font sizes for some fields is a bit small but zoom makes it usable.

[kcjenkins]

Thanks for sharing this.  I can see it being something we might want to do for at least a few clients, even if not for all.  Anyone have a promo code?

[Abby Normal]

Attached is the modified organizer.

2014 Blank Organizer.pdf

[Terry D EA]

Refresh my memory here. I used ATX MAX for a long time prior to the CCH takeover. If I recall correctly, doesn't ATX populate the organizer from the current year tax information? Other software companies that I have used do this. Just wondering.

[Jack from Ohio]

Refresh my memory here. I used ATX MAX for a long time prior to the CCH takeover. If I recall correctly, doesn't ATX populate the organizer from the current year tax information? Other software companies that I have used do this. Just wondering.

Yes

[Abby Normal]

Refresh my memory here. I used ATX MAX for a long time prior to the CCH takeover. If I recall correctly, doesn't ATX populate the organizer from the current year tax information? Other software companies that I have used do this. Just wondering.

Not sure I understand your questions, but ATX creates the organizer in the prior year's software and populates it from that year, putting the prior year numbers in the appropriate column. Pretty much like every other software I've ever used... and I've used a few.

[kcjenkins]

Terry, the point, I believe, is to make it possible for the client to fill in THIS YEARS new info on the computer, rather than printing the form for them to fill in by hand.  

[Abby Normal]

Just found another program that did a much better job, Nuance Power PDF Standard.

It created the fields better with a larger font AND made the square boxes "checkable" with a click. Now I just need to get ATX to make the Yes/No boxes on the questionnaire square so they too are check boxes.

[Abby Normal]

I forgot to attach the new organizer and I forgot to mention that I added page numbers.

2014 Blank Organizer-Nuance Fillable.pdf

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Now that's a beautiful thing!  I will try to add the Schedule C pages and Schedule E pages as I have several of those folks.  Thanks for all the hard work and especially for sharing!

[Abby Normal]

Always happy to share. Cheers!

[Abby Normal]

When you save the file after converting it to fillable, do a 'Save as' so it will be a PDF and not a PDF/A.

[Abby Normal]

Whoa! You can batch add page numbers to ALL your organizers! It's a little technical to get it set up, but once you save your settings, you're set.

[Abby Normal]

Just realized I've been evaluating the Advanced version. I will have to buy the standard version to evaluate it. They have a 30 day money back guarantee. The standard version is only 69.99. Advanced is twice that.

They have a comparison chart but I can't figure out if it has the features I need.

[Catherine]

I bought Acrobat X when Acrobat XI came out - fully registerable, off ebay, for about 1/3 the price of the new version.  You could try and see (assuming you like the Nuance version) if there is a registerable, license-able, prior version on ebay for small money.  

[Abby Normal]

It will also export a pdf to excel. I just did it for an Assets by classification report and it worked perfectly.

[MAMalody]

When I open the Nuance Fillable version, it is not fillable.  My Adobe program says it is opened in read only to prevent modification.  Is there a way around this?

[Abby Normal]

When I open the Nuance Fillable version, it is not fillable.  My Adobe program says it is opened in read only to prevent modification.  Is there a way around this?

It doesn't give you an option to make it editable? I don't use Adobe because I hate it. I've used Foxit PDF reader for awhile but I'm always looking for a new reader.

I just downloaded the file I linked to above and Adobe does say it opened it as read-only but there is an Enable Editing button top right. This is why I warned about saving it as a PDF/A. Apparently, I did a Save instead of a Save As.

 

[Abby Normal]

Update on Nuance

I bought the Standard version for 69.99 and it does make the pdf fillable and it can number the pages. However, the fields that are boxes like First Name, have too small of a font and since that's most fields on the organizer, it's not acceptable. I've emailed support asking about this. Also, it doesn't have the batch mode where you can apply page numbers to all your organizers at once, but since you have to open each organizer to make it fillable, I'm not sure that's a big deal.

I may end up buying one copy of the Advanced version and several copies of the standard version to save $$.

[Abby Normal]

Here's the scoop. Version 1.0 of either the standard or the advanced does the best job. The current verison (1.2) chooses too small of a font for the fillable fields on the organizer. So buy 1.0 and do not upgrade.

I found a copy of standard 1.0 on ebay for $29.99 to test, but when I went back they were all gone. There are some copies at around 45-50 now. You can buy it on Amazon as a disc or a download for about 59.

Here is a direct link to download version 1.0. Warning: 1.5 GB. Then all you need is a license # to activate it.

To make a form fillable, open it and choose the Forms tab. Then click on Form Typer and very quickly it will convert it. Then just save it. As far as I know, there's no batch way to do this, but that's what interns are for.

Adding page numbers to the organizers can be done in a batch, so you can do them all at once.

In Nuance, with no file open, choose the Home tab, then Headers and Footers, Add. Add all the files you want and click OK. You can create and save a header or footer with the page numbering scheme (font, location, margins, etc.) you want. The only tricky part is under Macros you choose Page Number, then click in the Header or Footer location you want (left, center, right) and then click on Insert Macro.

I have don't want page numbers on the first 2 pages because those are my letter and engagement letter, so I click on Page Range and put page 3 to 999. It doesn't save the page range as part of the scheme so you have to remember to do that each time.

Then click on OK, choose your save options (you'll likely want to uncheck Open when finished), click OK. This also works very quickly.

The settings I ended up with for page numbers was Header, Right, Arial 13 point, Top margin 0.50, Right margin 0.30.

[Abby Normal]

I forgot to add the another nice feature is converting any pdf to searchable. So if you have a lease document or articles of organization or anything else you like to search or copy/paste, just open it in Nuance and click Make PDF Searchable on the home tab. It actually does a better job than using our Fujitsu scanners to scan a document as searchable.

Plus there are tons of other features like adding Sign Here flags to documents.

[jeffschroeder1]

Thanks!  I was able to use the Standard 1.0 as described using the Form Typer tool.  It works extremely well, though in a couple cases the boxes didn't quite land right, such as with the charitable non-cash donations page, where there is not a line for every item.  I'll see how much customization is needed for each client-specific organizer, as long as not much massaging is needed it's a great tool.  Thanks for the tip!

[Abby Normal]

Yes, I had the exact same problem with the non-cash donations page. Also the dependents page. I sent it to Nuance for their evaluation, but they are not being helpful.

[Hahn1040]

I wanted to take the opportunity to thank the people who, last year, had suggested using Nuance to convert our ATX  pdf organizers to fiillable forms.

I bought it for last tax season and really appreciated having this tool.  Now, after a year of experience, I am so pleased to have this capability.  It helps make a useful and professional looking organizer to send to my clients.

thanks so much!  The information that people share is so valuable!