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When you start ABBYY FormDesigner, the main window appears, together with the Quick Start dialog box. The Quick Start dialog box allows you to start working immediately, prompting you to choose from among the most commonly used commands: Open a file, Recent files, Create a new form, or start the Form Wizard. You can customize the appearance of the main application window in the Options dialog box, and show or hide interface elements from the View menu.
Screenshot of the ABBYY FormDesigner main application window, showing the Quick Start dialog box, the menu bar and toolbars, the ruler, the form window, the Document Structure pane, the Properties window, and the status bar.
The main window has the following parts: Menu bar — Contains the File, Edit, View, Form, Elements, Tools, and Help menus. Standard toolbar — Contains buttons for the most common tasks. Design Tools toolbar — Contains buttons for editing form elements. Formatting toolbar — Contains buttons and commands for formatting text. Form Elements toolbar — Contains buttons for adding elements to the form. Ruler — A bar marked off in units of measure, used as an editing aid for the exact positioning and alignment of form elements. Form window — Displays the current form. Only one form can be displayed at a time. Document Structure — A pane that displays the hierarchy of a document’s fields. Each field has one or more elements linked to it. Properties window — Lets you view and change the properties of the selected element. The tabs displayed depend on the type of element currently selected; click a tab name on the right to open it. Status bar — Displays information about the current element: the coordinates of its top-left corner (in mm), its size (in mm), and its type. The page type and size also appear here. For entry fields, date fields, and numeric fields, it also shows the number of character cells in each row and column.