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B56723560
Participating Frequently
August 16, 2018
Question

Formulas don't work in Adobe Reader after opening with Preview App on Mac OS X

  • August 16, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 2092 views

I have an interactive pdf which calculates the total of products selected in the pdf. It calculates using the  built in calculate field.

All this works fine in Adobe Reader, but this does not work in the default pdf reader on Mac OS X which is Preview.

The issue I have is not that it doesn't work in the Preview app, it's that if the pdf is the subsequently opened in Adobe reader the totals still don't work.

It's as if by opening up the pdf in preview then this stops the totals formula working at all.

If I open the pdf up initially in adobe reader it works fine, but not if I've opened and made a change to it using the preview app first.

Any thoughts?

2 replies

B
B56723560Author
Participating Frequently
August 20, 2018

I can't get this to work. I have actually tried another javascript message (that I have seen yourself post on acrobatusers.com which throws up a message, but not the one which you have put above. All I need to do is past the above code into the javascript box and open up in anything other that adobe reader and it will throw up message.

Also I have noticed using the other piece of code that the message didn't open in preview app either?

try67
Community Expert
try67Community Expert
Community Expert
August 16, 2018

Yes, don't open your files in Preview. It's known to be a buggy application which corrupts PDF files in various ways, just by opening them.

Complaints about this issue should be directed to Apple, who have failed to solve these very basic problems for a long time.

B
B56723560Author
Participating Frequently
August 16, 2018

Seeing as I have no control over what a user opens a pdf with, anything I can do?

try67
Community Expert
try67Community Expert
Community Expert
August 16, 2018

It's possible to add a large warning to the file that it should only be opened using Adobe software, and then use a script to hide it when it does.

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