The FCA1 form made easier

rrpc

Folks

As we've had some discussion here on the advisability of editing the FCA1 form to add your info before printing it, I've come up with an alternative approach which won't involve you defacing/modifying an official form.

I know I've had lots of torn up attempts to fill out these forms because in a lot of places there's just not enough room to write the information and keep it legible.

All you need is Microsoft Excel (or an equivalent) and the attached file.

How it works is you print out your forms as normal and then put them back in the printer (page by page if you like) and open the spreadsheet. Each sheet is a page of the form and the spreadsheet is laid out so that the information typed in the appropriate cells will print in the appropriate places on the form.

So you enter the information on the spreadsheet (delete anything that doesn't apply) and print the sheet, you then move on to the next page and do the same thing.

I've only done up to page 5, but it's those of us that have more than one form that will get the most out of this. I haven't done the tick boxes or the stuff that's individual to a particular form like cert numbers, but the repetitive stuff like name/address telephone numbers etc. are all there.

I know all printers are different and margins may vary, so each page has at least one row above everything and one column to the left that you can vary in width or height to get the stuff to print in the right places. You might need a test attempt to get it right the first time, but after that it's a piece of cake.

Enjoy

derek_g34

I particularly like the "I am fully competent and have a clean track record for one hundred and fifty years and am a very good shot" section:D

johngalway

Drug dealer and burglar Vicious little circle going on there with your ref's

griffdude

I liked the GP and other doctor - Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Hyde

griffdude

Just tried this and its deadly :cool:

Had to do a slight adjustment on the printer and just printed my two forms completely. If you print it on light blank paper first, you can hold it over the form and hold it up to the light and see if its right. It was a little too much to the left for me cos the date didnt line up right but I changed the first column and it was spot on.

I dont really need them till jan, but its really helpful. Thanks rrpc. :cool:

maglite

Woudl there b interest in me turning the PDF form into one with writeable field in it and hosting it?

Sparks

Thanks Sidney, but we're still waiting to hear from the FPU if they'd not prosecute us for altering an official form if we were to put up a writable version of the pdf form on here. If they say okay, post away...

Mr Flibble

maglite wrote: »

Woudl there b interest in me turning the PDF form into one with writeable field in it and hosting it?

Yes. The FPU or their masters should have done it already. It's the 21st century ffs.

Rovi

I too just want to say thanks to Sidney for posting a user-fillable version of the FCA1 form, it's a beautiful piece of work and well done to yourself or whoever it was that created it.
Unfortunately, we've had to delete the post pending definitive word back from the FPU/DoJ on whether modifying the form in this way breaches any laws or regulations on altering official documents.
We don't want either users here or Boards.ie in general getting in trouble.

As others have said, it's the 21st century, and this sort of thing should be standard for all official forms and documents officially made available online.

The Departments of Finance and Agriculture have been doing this sort of thing for years; come on Justice, get with the programme!

Bananaman

come on Justice, get with the programme

They're not doing this for our benefit.

B'Man

Rovi

Bananaman wrote: »

They're not doing this for our benefit.

B'Man

I'm trying not to be tooooo cynical about all this.

rrpc

Rovi wrote: »

The Departments of Finance and Agriculture have been doing this sort of thing for years; come on Justice, get with the programme!

I'm trying not to sound pedantic, but the FCA1 forrm is not in the bailiwick of the Department of Justice.

In the meantime, there's no copyright on my spreadsheet

Gun Shy

Who is Sidney

marlin vs

maglite wrote: »

Woudl there b interest in me turning the PDF form into one with writeable field in it and hosting it?

Great idea, it would make it a lot easier, thanks.

Mr Flibble

Gun Shy wrote: »

Who is Sidney

Presumably Sidney is the real name of the poster "Maglite"

Mr Flibble

rrpc wrote: »

I'm trying not to sound pedantic, but the FCA1 forrm is not in the bailiwick of the Department of Justice.

No, it looks like you're trying to sound like a pirate.

Whose bailiwick is it in?

Rovi

Gun Shy wrote: »

Who is Sidney

Mr Flibble wrote: »

Presumably Sidney is the real name of the poster "Maglite"

Nope, they're not the same person; at least, not as far as we know.

sidneyreilly posted a very elegant user-fillable version of the form earlier in the thread, but we had to remove it as we've yet to hear from the Gardai/DoJ on whether modifying it like this is kosher or not. sidneyreilly then deleted the remainder of the post.
That's why there are two posts thanking him, but no sign of the post to which they refer.

maglite

So is it allowable or not, It would only be putting a text boxs over the form so not midifing it. Or is that what ye are looking into?

rrpc

Mr Flibble wrote: »

No, it looks like you're trying to sound like a pirate.

Arrr

Whose bailiwick is it in?

The Gardai's.

It's pedantic because both report to the Minister, but are separate.

rrpc

maglite wrote: »

So is it allowable or not, It would only be putting a text boxs over the form so not midifing it. Or is that what ye are looking into?

I think so. It's why I did it in a spreadsheet overlay. Unless you're doing the same thing in a pdf of course.

Though not everyone has the means to type into pdfs either.

lordarpad

rrpc wrote: »

I think so. It's why I did it in a spreadsheet overlay. Unless you're doing the same thing in a pdf of course.

Though not everyone has the means to type into pdfs either.

well acrobat reader is available for just about any OS that I can think of that has more than .5% market share or so ...

rrpc

lordarpad wrote: »

well acrobat reader is available for just about any OS that I can think of that has more than .5% market share or so ...

Acrobat Reader doesn't allow you to amend or edit documents. You need to pay for software to do that.

maglite

http://rapidshare.com/files/286270469/Form_FCA1_Txt_Field_1.2.pdf


If I have made an error or there is a glitch etc, or if someone has a suggested improvement Pm me.

tonysopprano

Bump.

For those of us needing it at end of November

No6

I used the pdf version for a new application at the start of the month, the Local guard was well impressed, it was the first typed one he had seen, very tidy thanks maglite!!!

bigred

maglite wrote: »

http://rapidshare.com/files/286270469/Form_FCA1_Txt_Field_1.2.pdf


If I have made an error or there is a glitch etc, or if someone has a suggested improvement Pm me.

Rapidshare is acting the b****x - has anyone got a copy they can email me? Send me a PM if you have one to send on.
Cheers!

rrpc

Try this one

maglite

Per PM request.

Strangely I didn't think of this upload feature before.:rolleyes: I've also changed the Rs link to a direct download.

And as an aside with RRPC and myself having 500+ Downloads very little thanks floating. That's also a lot of people downloading these... More than I would have thought.