PDF fillable form not displaying field data

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
June 9, 2020
32 replies
213806 views

Greetings,

I have an employee who is receiving fillable PDF forms for work via email. When opening file preview on the form within Outlook Desktop the form is displayed and the field data is in the fields designated. When opening the PDF with Reader or Acrobat Pro the forms field data is blank. Clicking on fields to highlight test does not reveal anything, and trying to insert a space and delete the space within the field nothing is revealed. When opening the file with MS Edge, all the forms field data is then viewable. I have another employee that was able to open the same form using their Acrobat XI and was able to view the field data as well. With opening the PDF's via Edge, we are able to print form to MS Print to PDF and upon doing so and opening with Reader or Acrobat Pro the form data is viewable. I have checked the versions of Reader and Acrobat Pro and both are up to date as well. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Correct answer try67

This is usually the fault of the application used to fill in the form, most likely Apple Preview, MS Reader or one of the browser plugins. Instruct the users to only use Adobe Reader and it should work fine.

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try67

Correct answer

Community Expert

This is usually the fault of the application used to fill in the form, most likely Apple Preview, MS Reader or one of the browser plugins. Instruct the users to only use Adobe Reader and it should work fine.

B

barbc88891985

Participating Frequently

Thank you for the reply. But, for myself and T_Hubbard, Adobe Reader IS the problem this time. Ironically, other applications and plug-ins are not having an issue displaying field content.

Adobe Reader = fields are blank until you click in them or resize the window

Outlook Desktop with preview pane = OK - the fields are all populated

File Explorer with preview pane = OK - the fields are all populated

Chrome Browser = OK - the fields are all populated

Edge Browser = OK - the fields are all populated

It is not a big deal for me because my user has a "work-around" for this one particular document. But I am curious as to why it is happening and if it will be fixed on the next Adobe Reader update.

D

default9uu6q3lo7s30

Participant

can you share the work around

B

barbc88891985

Participating Frequently

Having a similar issue: Upon opening the PDF in Acrobat Reader (ver. 2020.009.20067) the form fields are blank. But, in our case, if you click in a field location, the data shows up - only for that one field.
Another interesting discovery is if you zoom the window (in any direction) everything suddenly appears. Very strange.

NOTES: We received the document from someone else but the properties reveal the following:
Application: Acrobat PDFMaker 20 for Word.
PDF Producer: Adobe PDF Library 20.9.95
PDF Version is: 1.6 (Acrobat 7.x)

I have played with different settings in Adobe Reader, but do not want to spend a lot of time on this. I have the feeling it will be fixed with a software revision: Either Adobe Reader or Acrobat PDFMaker 20 for Word???

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