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serkanidil
serkanidil
Participant
February 24, 2026
Question

Acrobat renders text different, and PDFs render fine in Preview and other apps

  • February 24, 2026
  • 5 replies
  • 254 views

Hello, I’m reporting what looks like a Mac Acrobat Pro rendering bug affecting fillable PDF forms (IRS forms such as Form 5472 / 1120).

 

 

Problem

 

Previously filled form fields (text already entered days/months ago) suddenly started displaying incorrectly in Acrobat on Mac:

 

  • broken/strange character spacing

  • distorted text appearance inside form fields

  • text looks scattered or stretched in some fields

 

 

Important observations (why this looks like an Acrobat display/render bug)

 

  • Mac Quick Look shows the same PDF correctly

  • Print Preview shows the same PDF correctly

  • Another PDF viewer app also shows the text correctly

  • Only Acrobat on Mac displays the form field text incorrectly on screen

 

This strongly suggests:

 

  • PDF data is intact

  • form data is intact

  • print output is intact

  • issue is Acrobat’s on-screen rendering of form field text

 

 

Environment / Repro context

 

  • Tested on 2 different MacBook Pros

  • Tested with 2 different Adobe accounts

  • Same issue on both machines/accounts

  • Files are stored in iCloud (but Quick Look/Print Preview show correctly)

  • Reinstalling Acrobat did not fix it

 

 

What I already tried (no fix)

 

  • Acrobat Preferences > Page Display:

     

    • Use system setting (resolution)

    • Smooth line art OFF

    • Smooth images OFF

    • Enhance thin lines OFF

    • Use page cache OFF

    • Tried different Smooth Text settings

  • Quit/reopen Acrobat

  • Tested different zoom levels (100/125/150/etc.)

  • Signed out of Creative Cloud / signed back in

  • Restarted Mac

  • Uninstalled and reinstalled Acrobat completely

 

 

Result

 

Issue persists and appears to be a regression/bug in Acrobat for Mac rendering engine for fillable form field text.

 

 

Request

 

Please confirm whether this is a known issue and whether there is:

 

  • a patch/fix planned

  • a workaround

  • a way to install a prior stable build on Mac (if available)

 

I can provide screenshots if needed (Acrobat incorrect display vs Quick Look/Print Preview correct display).

 

Thank you.

      5 replies

      nrb62
      nrb62
      Participant
      March 12, 2026

      Any update on this? I’m experiencing the same issue:

       

      Architecture: arm64

      Processor: Apple M2 Pro

      Build: 25.1.21288.0

      AGM: 8.0.1

      CoolType: 11.0.0

      JP2K: 4.0.2.54782

      Edit: the exact same issue ​@JenniferJ001 mentions is happening to me in IRS Form 1120. Some weird font is being used.

      JenniferJ001
      JenniferJ001
      Participant
      March 10, 2026

      Hi, I was having the same problem on other forms besides the IRS (the focus on the IRS is a common theme in the replies). I’ve attached a doc that I can read perfectly online but on my two MacBooks (home & work, both using my instance of Adobe), it looks like the screenshot that I’ve attached. I’ve played with the preferences as suggested in this thread (didn’t work) but haven’t rolled back to an earlier version pending a more permanent fix. Note: while I was typing this, I looked at my “About” to find the version and Adobe crashed. 

      OS name: Tahoe 26.3.1 Acrobat version 2025.001.21265

      Thank you!

      D
      dawnb96720698
      Participating Frequently
      March 10, 2026

      I’m having the same problem. I tried all the things mentioned here (settings, uninstall/reinstall, restart, etc.), nothing fixes it. Tried on an iMac (Tahoe 26.3.1), a MacBook Pro (Tahoe26.3), and a MacBook Air (Tahoe26.3), all have the same problem that has just cropped up recently. All running the latest version of Acrobat (incidentally, this does NOT make me want to keep the auto-update enabled!). The problem is not the IRS forms, because they displayed correctly when they were first filled, but now they don’t. The forms print OK (fonts look correct) and display fine in other PDF readers, only Acrobat will not display the type correctly. And no, I don’t have time to do all your testing and work for you, Adobe. Download an IRS tax form and try it yourself, then fix the problem.

      allisonm12516598
      allisonm12516598
      Participant
      March 4, 2026

      I am having this problem as well! Specifically, I was trying to fill out the IRS 2024 W-9 form. I tried adjusting Preferences > Content Editing > Font Options setting both the Default and Fallback fonts to Arial and it did not work. Would appreciate any help.

      T
      Tariq Dar
      Legend
      March 5, 2026

      Hi ​@allisonm12516598 - Thanks for reaching out, and sorry for the troubled experience. 
      This issue has been escalated to the product engineering team and is currently under investigation.

      Thank you for your patience.

       

      ~Tariq
       

      nrb62
      nrb62
      Participant
      March 12, 2026

      Any updates? I’m experiencing the same issue.

        T
        Tariq Dar
        Legend
        February 25, 2026

        Hi ​@serkanidil , 

         

        Thanks for reaching out, and sorry for the troubled experience. 

        And appreciate you sharing all the detailed information about what you tried and tested to fix this issue; this helps a lot. 

        While you have tried several troubleshooting steps. Let's try a few more suggestions more focused towards this problem. 

        • Try creating a PDF Form with a few text boxes and some check boxes. And then fill it and try opening after some time. 

        While you try working that out, could you help us with the following: 

        • Could you share the file that you are having trouble with(if possible)? If you can’t share it publicly, upload the file to any Cloud Drive of your choice and share a downloadable link with us via Private message.  
          • To send a Private Message - Click on Profile Avatar and on the profile page, you will see a button “Send message.”
        • Also, if possible, please share with us a video of the issue.

         

        ~Tariq

         

         

         

         

          serkanidil
          serkanidilAuthor
          Participant
          February 26, 2026

          Hello Tariq, thanks for response, i am adding a  video about the problem for you to understand better. As you can see when i open filed with Adobe Acrobat they look strange, but when i just preview they seem normal and with other pdf applications they seem just normal. I really dont understand how and why is this happening…

          ps. i cant upload it here because of the size, so i uploaded it google drive, you can watch it through the link ;

          https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_UPcWtDTDPCGNVOTgDX-b2cdlfaJZUH4/view?usp=sharing
           

          serkanidil
          serkanidilAuthor
          Participant
          February 26, 2026

          I am adding 2 photos also 

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