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kristin42645812
Participant
September 8, 2016
Question

Saving a fillable form as a non-form?

  • September 8, 2016
  • 2 replies
  • 330 views

Okay, I created a  form in Adobe Acrobat DC for some research data so that I can type in the data and it will be more accurate than before when I was handwriting it. I ended up with a bunch of these filled out forms, and wanted to merge them all together and send them to someone else as one document. Then I realized that you can't merge these files because the field names would be duplicated -- you can only create a PDF portfolio.  So I did that, but it turns out that the person getting my forms, who is hand-entering them into their own database anyway (long story), can only see the first page. They don't have the same software. Anyway, I can't send them any more portfolios. My interim, ridiculous, solution is to print off my pdf portfolios and scan each of them into into one "flat" file. Is there some way to do this inside of Adobe??? I see all sorts of help about how to turn a document into a fillable form, but nothing about how to turn the fillable form into a non-form document. Thanks for any advice!

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2 replies

Inspiring
September 8, 2016

Wow, it's a shame you they don't want to extract the data from the form fields. It's rather simple and would be much more reliable.

To flatten, you can use this free JavaScript-based tool: UVSAR : Selective Flattener tool for Adobe Acrobat 8, 9 and X

Be sure to retain the original non-flattened forms.

Bernd Alheit
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 8, 2016

With Adobe Acrobat you can flatten the form fields.