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| System Requirements |
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| First and foremost, you need to make sure that you have Microsoft Internet Explorer (5.5 and above) and Adobe Acrobat Reader (5.0 and above) installed, and that both are functional. |
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| If you are using Internet Explorer now, you can check the version by clicking the "Help" menu and select "About Internet Explorer". If you don't have Internet Explorer, follow this link to get it installed on your computer. |
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| To check your Acrobat Reader, click here. If the PDF file (AR-11, change of address form) loads successfully into your Internet Explorer, your Acrobat Reader is functioning correctly. The chances of you getting a version of Acrobat Reader older than 5.0 aren't really high. But if you want to check the version number, you can start from the Windows "Start" button, follow the "Programs" menu and try to find the "Acrobat Reader" entry. The version number is displayed there (as shown in the picture below). Alternatively, you can start Acrobat Reader from outside Internet Explorer, click the "Help" menu and select "About Acrobar Reader". |
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| If you don't have Acrobat Reader, follow this link to get it installed. |
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| Using Web Forms |
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| It's really easy to use our web based forms. Because these forms are usually pretty long, we divide each into multiple tabs so that you can tackle one tab at a time. In order to enter data under a tab, you first click that tab at the top of the form. The following picture shows the tabs of the AR-11 (change of address) form. |
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| As shown in the picture below, there are five buttons at the bottom of every form. These buttons allow you to load data into the web form, save data to a file, check for errors or omissions, generate a "Preview" version of PDF form, and generate a "Print" version of the PDF form. |
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 Load Data |
| When you click the "Load Data" button, a popup window is shown, prompting you to enter the name of the data file to load. The data file is a file you saved previously with the "Save Data" button, either from the same form or from a different form. In the latter case, you are importing data from the other form to the current form you are working on. This is a powerful feature that can save you a lot of time if you are working on a group of related forms. |
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| Data is loaded into your current web form after you click "Upload" in the popup window. |
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| Save Data |
| If you click the "Save Data" button, a standard "File Download" dialog will be displayed. This file contains all the data you entered thus far, and it is the file you will upload with the "Load Data" button if you want to save the current session and come back later. We recommend that you choose a meaningful name for this file so that later you won't have a hard time figuring out what's contained in the file, for example: AR-11_John-Doe_01-2005.dat. |
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| Since we don't save or store any form data on the server, you may want to hit the "Save Data" button often to prevent data loss in case your work session is interrupted (by a power outage, for example). |
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| Check Form |
| You can click the "Check Form" button to check for errors or omissions in the form. If any error is found, it will be indicated by a red dot near the field, and an explanation at the bottom of the page. |
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| Please note that it's impossible for us to find every possible error condition. For example, you may have three children and you forget to enter them into a form. There's no way for us to know that you are supposed to enter the names of your children and their birth dates. However, if you entered a name but forget a birth date, you'll be alerted. So please do check your form carefully even if "Check Form" doesn't find any errors. |
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| Preview |
| The "Preview" button generates a preview version of the final PDF form. The only difference between the "preview" version and the final version is the "PREVIEW" watermark on the former. |
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| There's no charge to this operation, so you are encouraged to "Preview" as many times as you want to make sure that the generated form is satisfactory. Please also make sure that you can do everything you want to do with the preview version, for example: save the file, print it out etc. |
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| Print |
| You use the "Print" button to generate the final PDF form to file with your application. The final form is exactly the same as the "Preview" version, except that there's no watermark. |
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| This is the only operation that requires you to have points in your account. Depending on the form you are working on, a certain number of points will be deducted from your account. When you click "Print", a popup will alert you of the deduction. You can't "Print" if you don't have enough points. Please refer to the forms page to see how many points each form costs. |
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| Account Management |
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| After you log in, click the "My Account" link at the top of the page. From there you can update your physical or email address, change your password, view a summary of your account, purchase points, or view a detailed report of your account history. If you so wish, you can also close your account by clicking on the "close account" link at the top of the page. You'll no longer be able to log in after the account is closed. |
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