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John25662048ywrr
Participating Frequently
August 17, 2022
Question

Importing Forms Data in Acrobat Pro DC

  • August 17, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 6176 views

Hello,

 

I'm trying to import forms data into Acrobat Pro DC.  I'm on Windows 10.  I tried various things by reading online help, but I can't get this to work.

 

Here is what I do.  I have a Forms document with a lot of entries.    What I did was go to "Prepare Form", and then I went to "Export Data" in the "More" section on the right hand side.    I exported three styles "xml", "fdf" and "xfdf" so that I could experiment with all three.

 

in xfdf I filled in the "value" fields with the data I wanted.   I then attempted to import the xfdf file back into Acrbat Pro DC by right clicking on the filename and opening in Adobe.  It accepted it and opened the correct forms document, but I didn't see the data filled in in any of the data entry boxes of the form.   I did a similar thing with the fdf.  I also tried the xml, but nothing worked for me.   I've also done the importing using the Import in the "More" section on the right hand side under "Prepare Form."

 

My basic idea here is to get to the point where I can programmatically fill an xfdf, xml or xfdf file with different data for different users, which I can do with my own coding, and then open the document in Acrobat Pro DC with that data in it.  That's the over all goal.    But I can't get the basic procedure to work.   

 

Does anyone have any idea how to do this?  Many thanks for any help.

 

Regards,

...John

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

try67
Community Expert
try67Community Expert
Community Expert
August 17, 2022

Use the plain-text format. It's the easiest one to work with. It's just tab-delimited data in two rows, the first being the field names and the second being their values. That's all there is to it.

    J
    John25662048ywrrAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    August 17, 2022

    Thanks for your reply.    I exported in txt format from the form in "Prepare Form" mode and I saw that the export was as you said.     What's interesting is that I see the data I'd entered into the same form with xfdf format.   That is, entry values are where there is "Off" in the second line of the txt file.

     

    Perhaps that part worked.   What I'm not seeing is the data presented in the form when I load it. It's as if the form is empty.  Maybe that has to be done in a different mode?

    J
    John25662048ywrrAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    August 18, 2022

    I'm still not clear on how to make the data show up in the form.   I don't see what I import.  

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