EDIT: I'll also be dealing with saving and preserving signatures on forms, so I'll have to keep a archived copy somewhere.
A little background, I have a external form (pdf or xlsm i.e. excel sheet - see bottom of post) that I want to populate from my access database. I'll have a button on my access form that allows me to populate the external form, attach it to a Outlook email and then disperse it to a specified recipient on the form. That recipient will fill out some fields, send it back and I'll read it back into my database somehow. The reason why I'm asking about the format is due to maintaining integrity of the data. I would prefer if the users only change certain fields on the form, though I (believe) can set up the import to only update certain fields and remedy the issue that way.
I have two questions, first: I have the form in a specific ordered format (.PDF) that I want to populate. I have a copy of that exact form but with lines added via excel (.xlsm). My question is, if I want to populate specific entries in these forms with Access through Vba given the above considerations, do you guys think it's better to do it with the .PDF or the .xlsm?
Second: Is there a better way to do this that I'm not aware of? Is what I'm envisioning in my head even feasible? Just wanted a second opinion on this.
If you guys have any useful references that would be helpful too.
The form will look/have a similar format to something like this, i.e. a random application form of sorts:
I'm thinking of a 4 step process to accomplish this:
1) User clicks button on eligible forms (read-only form populated via query to select eligible records?)
2) Make a copy of the default, empty form and name it using unique identifiers from the record.
Optional? : Ensure that all fields on the default form are empty, and if not then clear them
3) Map relevant fields from access form onto the sheet copy
4) Run through a Outlook email procedure
-Extract email from db to populate recipient field
-send and finish