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BlakeBC
Participant
April 3, 2024
Question

Adobe fillable PDF not showing changes after being saved

  • April 3, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 4698 views

I have an issue that looks like it has been discussed at length over the years without any clear resolution.

 

I work for a property developer. Our tenants will use Adobe Fill and Sign to edit a fillable PDF and save their changes. the tenants then send the completed PDF to the building manager.  the building manager receives the file and once opened with Adobe Acrobat STD the file is blank.  

 

  • If we view this file in the preview pane with Windows Explorer we can see the saved markups. 
  • If we open the PDF file in the EDGE browser the markups are shown. 
  • If we open with Adobe Acrobat Reader the markups are shown.
  • when opened with Adobe Acrobat STD or PRO the markups are not shown. 

 

My question is why does my overpriced license of Adobe Acrobat perform worse than free alternatives? 

I can reproduce this issue on any PC and I have ensured that the software and Windows patch level is completely up to date.

 

Any assistance would be appreciated,  Please no unhelpful comments (you know who you are).

 

thanks, 

 

Blake Chechak  

 

 

    2 replies

    B
    BlakeBCAuthor
    Participant
    April 4, 2024

    Hi Thom, 

     

    The PDF in question is a form provided by the Ontario government and is not created by us.  Maybe I misspoke when I classified it as an Adobe fill and sign document. 

     

    Here is a link to the document in question: 

    https://tribunalsontario.ca/documents/ltb/Notices%20of%20Termination%20&%20Instructions/N9.pdf

     

    Making any edits to this document results in the STD and Pro versions of Adobe Acrobat being unable to see the changes. As mentioned previously other PDF readers can see these changes.  

     

    This behavior is clearly a bug with how the Inputted data is stored in the PDF form and displayed by the PDF application. It's almost as if a layer of the document is not being shown. 

     

    thanks, 

     

    Blake 

     

      Thom Parker
      Community Expert
      Thom ParkerCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 4, 2024

      So this is an XFA form. It cannot be filled by any method except opening in Acrobat Reader or Pro.  

      Do you know how the tenents are filling it? 

      If you want this form to be usabe it will need to be converted to a regular PDF form. 

       

       

      Thom Parker - Software Developer at PDFScriptingUse the Acrobat JavaScript Reference early and often
      B
      BlakeBCAuthor
      Participant
      April 4, 2024

      Hi Thom, 

       

      Tenants would be filling this in with their personal phones or computers. likely the stock default PDF app which would be MSEdge on the Windows platform.  Currently, all tenants can fill in this form without issue. the problem stems from our internal staff being unable to view the file with our Acrobat STD licenses. 

       

      I don't have high hopes that the Ontario government will change its PDF form due to a limitation in how Adobe Acrobat STD reads an XFA-based PDF.  The workaround for now is to open the file with any program except Adobe Acrobat STD. 

       

      Thanks for your help, hopefully, this will get fixed in the future.  

       

      regards, 

       

      Blake Chechak 

       

      Thom Parker
      Community Expert
      Thom ParkerCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 3, 2024

      Your description is not consitent with the "Fill and Sign" (Adobe Sign) process.  It sounds like different methodologies have been mixed. 

      Please explain in detail how this form was created and distributed to the tenents.  Be specific about the buttons (or menu items) that were pushed to make this happen.  

       

      Thom Parker - Software Developer at PDFScriptingUse the Acrobat JavaScript Reference early and often
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