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381randi
Inspiring
April 20, 2026
Answered

Fillable Form Created in InDesign on Mac, won't open with fillable form fields in Acrobot Pro or Reader on Windows

  • April 20, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 34 views

I’ve searched everywhere online and in help - no answer yet. I created a form in Adobe InDesign on Mac. I created all the fillable fields within InDesign. Exported the file as an Interactive PDF. Tested it on my Mac in both Reader and Acrobat Pro. Everything worked great.  

Then I sent it to the client and everyone in their office has tried to open it in “Acrobat Pro” on their Windows computer, and none of the fields show up or can be clicked on to type data into. It essentially has NO FIELDS when opened on Acrobat Pro on their Windows computers in their office. 

I’ve tried adjusting their Acrobat prefrences to show the fields, but it already has “show fields”. 
If we click on Prepare form in their Windows Acrobat, it shows a few of my fields, but not all of them. 

Any ideas guys. This is driving me crazy as I have several clients on Windows that I’ve done PDF forms for, and all of theirs work just fine. Help!

Correct answer 381randi

@Amal Jaiswal I sent her the form via Dropbox, and she was able to download it and see the form as intended. There is something in Windows Mail (I think) or her install of Acrobat that when she opened it from Mail it opened flat. 

We did get it working finally and all is well. Might be something to note incase you run across it again. Windows 11 mail seems to be tricky that way. 

Thanks for your help. 

3 replies

Amal Jaiswal
Community Manager
Amal JaiswalCommunity Manager
Community Manager
April 22, 2026

Hi there, 

 

Hope you are doing well and describing the issue in detail. 

Please confirm:

  • Which version of Acrobat is she using (Pro/Standard and version number)?
  • What email client is she using (Outlook, webmail, etc.)?
  • How exactly is she saving or sending the file after filling it?

Based on your description, this does not sound like a form design issue, since it works perfectly on other machines. This points to something specific on her system — either with Acrobat installation, settings, or environment restrictions.

 

Just to clarify  installing Reader instead of Acrobat will not fix this issue. Adobe Acrobat Reader can fill forms but Adobe Acrobat (Pro/Standard) can create/edit forms

Since you’re using Prepare Form, Reader alone won’t support that feature. So uninstalling Acrobat just to test Reader may not give meaningful results.
 

Below are some possible causes & fixes, please give them a try and see if that helps:

1. Corrupt Acrobat installation:

2. User printing instead of saving:  If she is using “Print to PDF”, it will flatten and remove fields. Ask her to:

  • Open PDF in Acrobat
  • Fill form
  • Click Save (not Print, not Export)
     

3. A quick test, please ask her to:

  • Fill the form
  • Save locally
  • Reopen the same file

- If fields are gone > issue is Acrobat/settings
- If fields are fine >  issue is email/workflow
 


Hope this information will help

~Amal

3
381randiAuthor
Inspiring
April 22, 2026

She has Windows 11 and the subscription version of Acrobat 2024 (which updates automatically I think, not sure). She is using Windows 11 Mail program to get email. 

The trouble is that she can’t even see the form fields. I email the form with fields, and she opens it from her email, and can only see a flattened PDF - no form fields at all. So she can’t enter anything because the form that she opens has no fillable fields. 

If I have her click “Prepare Form” in Acrobat on her computer, it detects a couple of the fields - “check boxes” - but none of the text fields are there. Everyone else I’ve had test the form - the form works fine. 3 windows users and 2 other mac users. 

It’s like her email, or her Acrobat, flattens the PDF and strips out the fields. I have no idea what setting in her email to check. I did do a Google search and we checked several settings in Acrobat - none of them helped at all. 

I’ve sent her a Dropbox link to download the form. If that works then we know it’s something in her email program. If it doesn’t work, then I’m guessing we need to uninstall Acrobat and start that install from scratch. 

Let me know if you have any other suggestions. It takes a bit of time to try these troubleshooting steps with her because she’s a lawyer and is in and out all day in court. So this could be a really slow process. 

Amal Jaiswal
Community Manager
Amal JaiswalCommunity Manager
Community Manager
April 23, 2026

Hi there,
 

Hope you are doing well. 
 

From what you’ve described, this does not sound like the PDF itself is broken. It looks more like something in her setup (either email handling or Acrobat environment) is causing the form fields to not appear.
 

A couple of quick questions:

  • When she opens the file, does it say “Opened in browser” or “Preview”?
  • Is she opening it directly from the email or saving first?

A very common reason for this behavior is how the file is being opened from the email client (in this case, the Windows 11 Mail app). Sometimes, email apps:

Open PDFs in a preview mode or pass them to a limited viewer which can make the PDF appear “flattened” (no fillable fields visible)

Ask her to:

  • Download the PDF to her computer (don’t open directly from email)
  • Right-click > Open with > Adobe Acrobat

Opening directly from email often causes issues like this.
 

Check default PDF app: Make sure PDFs are opening in Adobe Acrobat and not a browser or another viewer:

  • Go to Settings > Apps > Default Apps
  • Set Acrobat as default for .pdf
     

Turn off “Protected Mode” (for testing): Sometimes security settings can interfere:

  • Open Acrobat
  • Go to Preferences (Ctrl,Cmd+K) > Security (Enhanced)
  • Temporarily uncheck Protected Mode at startup
  • Restart Acrobat and test again

(You can turn it back on after testing.)

 

Let us know how it goes

 

~Amal
 

3
381randiAuthor
Inspiring
April 21, 2026

To make matters worse, if she emails it back to me all the fields are gone. I’ve done a couple of exports from Adobe Acrobat and posted them in Dropbox for her to download. Is it possible that her email is flattening them, or is there a setting in Adobe Acrobat that she needs to turn off that is removing them. 

Please help. I’ve tried several other computers and it’s only the ones in her office that do not work. Thanks

Amal Jaiswal
Community Manager
Amal JaiswalCommunity Manager
Community Manager
April 21, 2026

Hi there 

 

Hope you are doing well and thanks for reaching out.  We are sorry for the troube you are experiencing.

 

Would you mind sharing more information as listed below:

  • What version of Acrobat your client is using on Windows? Go to Help > About Acrobat and ask them to update the application to the latest version available. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.
  • Do all fields fail, or only certain types (text fields, checkboxes, etc.)?

 

From your description, the issue is most commonly related to how Adobe InDesign exports Interactive PDFs.
 

Even though the fields appear to work on Mac (in Adobe Acrobat Pro and Reader), sometimes the fields created in InDesign are not fully recognized as proper AcroForm fields on Windows.
 

If only some fields appear in “Prepare Form” on Windows, that strongly suggests the fields are not fully recognized as standard form fields.

 

Please try to recreate the fields in Acrobat Pro:

  • Open your exported PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro
  • Go to Tools > Prepare Form
  • Let Acrobat auto-detect fields
  • Manually add/fix missing fields
  • Save the PDF and share again

This ensures all fields are true Acrobat form fields and will work across both Mac and Windows.

 

Let us know how it goes.

 

~Amal

3
381randiAuthor
Inspiring
April 21, 2026

She has updated Windows to the latest version - Windows 11. 
We did a full restart on the computer. 

We also tried to download and install Reader from the Microsoft App store - it won’t even let us try reader as it defaults to Acrobat no matter what we do. 

If we go to Tool-Prepare Form, it reads about 1/3 of the fields I’ve prepped in the form. I refuse to think I have to rebuild this form again. It’s 8 pages and tons of fields. 

I’ve tested in on 3 other windows computers - all with Windows 10 or 11 - and it works fine. 

Do we need to uninstall her version of Acrobat, restart the computer, install Reader only and test. I recommended this to her, and if we can get it working in Rader, then re-install Acrobat. 

It’s definitely something weird just on her machine, or with Acrobat. 
 

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