Participant

Answered

Dynamic PDF with LiveCycle Designer ES4 on iPad

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
December 3, 2021
4 replies
1848 views

Hello everyone,
I hope you can help me with my problem.

I created a dynamic PDF with the LCD_ES4. The PDF has to be dynamic 
because a lot of calculations have to be carried out in the background.

How can I edit and fill in this PDF on an iPad? Apparently there is no app for iPad 
in which you can fill out dynamic PDFs.

Correct answer Test Screen Name

XFA (dynamic PDF) is essentially obsolete. I suggest you make an Acrobat form instead, or use Adobe's server product for live conversion to an HTML forms. Acrobat forms are not dynamic layout, but I have no idea what you mean by "a lot of calculations have to be carried out in the background"; this is not normally given as an advantage of XFA. Anyway, whatever your reasons to use it, you won't be able to use it in iPad, Android, in browsers, or in the default PDF viewers used by >90% of people.

If you start again, I strongly suggest HTML forms. PDF forms, of all kinds, are unkind to users and land you with a lot of support tasks.

Harsh Vardhan Pareek

Community Manager

Hi @Patrick202111,

Adobe Acrobat Reader mobile app for iOS and Android do not support static or dynamic XFA forms that are authored with Adobe LiveCycle Designer.

Please use the desktop version of Adobe Reader on a Windows or Mac computer to view and fill out dynamic XFA forms. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Thanks,

Harsh

P

Patrick202111Author

Participant

Using a desktop version is not a solution. Our technicians in the field use iPads. 
We don't want to buy notebooks because a PDF doesn't work.

The machine data and the actual values are to be recorded in the service log (dynamic PDF).
A comparison runs in the background. If the target values deviate, suggestions for further
processing should be displayed.

This works great on the desktop. However, we are looking for a solution to get this function
(whether PDF or something else) on the iPad.
I cannot imagine that we are the first and only ones who have this question.

try67

Community Expert

> I cannot imagine that we are the first and only ones who have this question.

You are not, but the reply to all that ask is the same as the one you got. The thing is that XFA-forms are not really PDF files, despite their name, which makes it very difficult to write software that can read and edit them. Adobe could have done so, but decided not to, so we're all stuck in the same boat as you, basically. You need to come up with an alternate solution to XFA-forms if you want to be able to use them on a mobile device, unless it runs Windows or MacOS (not iOS).

T

Test Screen NameCorrect answer

Legend

XFA (dynamic PDF) is essentially obsolete. I suggest you make an Acrobat form instead, or use Adobe's server product for live conversion to an HTML forms. Acrobat forms are not dynamic layout, but I have no idea what you mean by "a lot of calculations have to be carried out in the background"; this is not normally given as an advantage of XFA. Anyway, whatever your reasons to use it, you won't be able to use it in iPad, Android, in browsers, or in the default PDF viewers used by >90% of people.

If you start again, I strongly suggest HTML forms. PDF forms, of all kinds, are unkind to users and land you with a lot of support tasks.

try67

Community Expert

How can I edit and fill in this PDF on an iPad? Apparently there is no app for iPad 
in which you can fill out dynamic PDFs.

You can't.

JR Boulay

Community Expert

MOVED TO THE ACROBAT READER MOBILE FORUM

Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe

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