New Electronic PDF Observation Form now e-mails data directly to Middle School

[NewMexiKen]

Victor de la Uz has greatly improved the PDF Version of the Eagle Nest 30 Minute Observational Checklist. Now, any users with the free Acrobat Reader installed on their computers can enjoy full functionality.

The PDF version of the  submission form has a new button which automatically sends the entire filled PDF form as an attachment directly to Ms. Smith via e-mail. The new button has been added to the upper right-hand side of the form.

Now it is also possible to print out a hard copy of the form directly by clicking on the "Print" button, also located within the form itself. These two buttons on the upper right-hand corner, while visible on the computer screen, are not visible during print, thus providing a cleaner printout.

Users may also save a copy to disk. Just be sure that you do not overwrite any previously saved forms-- if you get an warning that an earlier copy with the same name exists on your disk, simply change the name of your form (e.g., by adding a Julian date: YYYYMMDD).

Again I thank Victor for all his hard work on the form, which we will have in time for the increased activity that accompanies the brooding and tending of the chicks.

If you do not have the latest version of the free Adobe Reader, it may be downloaded at this link:

[vdelauz]

Ken,

You're very welcome, but the form does us no good without a wonderful website like this to host it for everyone, so I'd like to thank you, once again, for taking your time to maintain this site and for sharing your vast knowledge, experience and information with all of us! I feel very fortunate to have found your site and look forward to participating whenever I feel that I have something that I can offer.

If I may, I would also like to commend Ms. Kelly Smith for her outstanding efforts with regards to the education of her students about Bald Eagles. Her project is undoubtedly helping our children to better understand these majestic birds and wildlife in general.

I only wish that the passion the both of you have for animals and the environment could touch more people.

All the best!

Victor

[NewMexiKen]

Using the Electronic Form-- a suggestion

I just submitted this morning's eagle nest observation and discovered something useful. After you complete the form, first save it to disk-- but before saving, simply add today's month and day as MMDD.

The form's filename already has the year 2010 at its end (before .pdf)-- the filename is EagleNestObservation2010.pdf


So, this morning I added today's date and my initials to change the filename to:  EagleNestObservation20100121KS.pdf


Then I saved it into a folder that I named "Completed Eagle Forms"

After saving it, I simply clicked on the e-mail button, selected my type of e-mail program (I use Thunderbird on my desktop-- alternatively I can use my Webmail account). Presto! Up pops an e-mail already addressed to Ms Kelly Smith with the renamed form attached.

By renaming the form in this way, you avoid the possibility of over-writing your previous file that may have kept the original name. It will also help Ms Smith keep track of the submissions without danger of over-writing any previous ones.

If you happen to create more than one form on a given day, just put a dash and a numeral after the date and initials -- for example, EagleNestObservation20100121KS-2.pdf