Acrobat Pro DC - Fillable form appears blank when emailed

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
May 11, 2020
4 replies
44807 views

I have a form I created from excel into a fillable PDF in Acrobat Pro DC and have been noticing a trend when the form is filled in and returned to me.

When I receive an email with the form I can preview the PDF and it shows that the fields are correctly filled in. However, when I open, or save, or print the PDF the fields are blank. If i click into one of the fields it will show me the data, but the text is illegiable as the font appears to duplicate over itself multiple times. And it only shows you one field. If you click into another field the previous one goes blank again.

In most cases the signature field is the only one that remains on the page. Today is the first time that even the signature was blank. This has happened many times but I've always chalked it up to user error to be honest. However, it keeps happening that it just can't be. I would like to find a solution.

PDF forms

Correct answer try67

This typically happens when non-Adobe software is used to fill in the form. The most common culprits are Apple Preview and the various PDF plugins in browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc., which no longer support the Adobe plugin.

The solution is to instruct your users to save the file, not open it in a browser window, and then open it using Adobe Acrobat or Reader.

To fix the files you already have try exporting the values to a text file and then import them back in.

I

intuitive_idealist0429

Participant

I am experiencing the same problem with documents signed in Jotform. I am able to download a PDF of the signed document which appears normal when opened on my laptop, but when I try to open it from storage in Google Drive, I receive an error message and the document is blank. I have also uploaded the files to a compliance platform to which I routinely upload PDF docs and when I try to open them the pages are blank. I will try the workaround, but Adobe really needs to fix this problem.

A

Annie33024059m06n

Participant

Easiest method is to save the document on your OneDrive > open the document in your Adobe Acrobat BROWSER (NOT App) > This should show the filled fields. Print as Microsoft pdf or Adobe pdf.

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aualem

Participant

YEES, best solution

Rather do this than asking the sender to do all the work again

Thank you!

D

defaultsf9ver9z82i1

Participant

This is super irritating..... for what I pay for full adobe.... they need to fix this!!!!

try67

Correct answer

Community Expert

This typically happens when non-Adobe software is used to fill in the form. The most common culprits are Apple Preview and the various PDF plugins in browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc., which no longer support the Adobe plugin.

The solution is to instruct your users to save the file, not open it in a browser window, and then open it using Adobe Acrobat or Reader.

To fix the files you already have try exporting the values to a text file and then import them back in.