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Known Participant
January 26, 2024
Answered

Fillable Form Submission Challenges

  • January 26, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 1272 views

Hello my helpful heros. I created a fillable form in Acrobat and I would like to have a link to it on my web site. That's where the fun begins. Putting up the link is no problem, but I'm running into problems with what happens when it is clicked. For some it opens in the browser using the built-in reader; other open in browser using the Acrobat Reader extension; some download and then ask what to open it with; some download an then immediately open it in the associated app (which may or may not be a browser). The problem is that the behavior of the "SUBMIT" button varies to such an extent that I can't even give instructions - sometimes it does nothing, sometimes it gives an error, sometimes it gives a warning about permissions.

 

The form is currently on the site: familiarfacesengraving.com under the NMHA link in the left corner with a password of 123456 (not permanent). Note that I have the link currently set to force download.

 

Is there a more seamless way to submit the form that does not require dealing with so many browser/extension/platform variations? Ideally we would like to receive the completed form in pdf format.

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Correct answer Thom Parker

One thing you can do is add the "download" attribute to your Anchor tag for the link.  This requests the browser to download.  

 

1 reply

Thom Parker
Community Expert
Thom ParkerCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
January 26, 2024

One thing you can do is add the "download" attribute to your Anchor tag for the link.  This requests the browser to download.  

 

Thom Parker - Software Developer at PDFScriptingUse the Acrobat JavaScript Reference early and often
SavnacAuthor
Known Participant
January 26, 2024

Hi Thom. I thought that might help too (see last sentence of 2nd paragraph of my post), and in some cases it will. If, however, the user does not have reader/acrobat installed then the file will open in the browser anyway.  

Thom Parker
Community Expert
Community Expert
January 26, 2024

Another option is to overlay the form page with a message telling the user they have to fill the form in Reader.  The overlay could be either a text annotation or an OCG layer.  A document level script would remove the overlay if the form is opened in Acrobat. 

 

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