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J
JoyDisability-SSD
Participating Frequently
February 7, 2020
Question

Inserting a form page into another form is making all fields blank

  • February 7, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 429 views

I have a multi page fillable form packet I created a few years back.  Many pages.  I recently created a few new form field pages, using the same form fields, but to ultimately replace some of the existing pages.

I had a completed old form packet for one client.  I then added the new pages, expecting the filled-in form fields that already existed to populate into the identical fields in the newly created pages.  (Basically, the new pages are new and improved HIPAA forms, so I wanted to add them, see them populate by virtue of the existing older pages with the same form fields, and then clean up the client's package/book by deleting the old unneeded pages.

But when I insert these new pages, or combine, all fields go blank!  The old populated page fields lose their contents, and of course the new blank pages remain blank.  Thoughts? (I hope NOT to have to retype the new for each client!)

 

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1 reply

Thom Parker
Community Expert
Thom ParkerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 7, 2020

You can't control how Acrobat manages the form fields when combining documents and inserting new pages. 

So do this.

1) Put old filled in form into "Prepare Form" mode.

2) From the "More..." dropdown menu, export the form data to FDF or one of the other formats.

3) Leave "Prepare Form" mode.

4) Insert pages

5) Go back into "Prepare Form" mode.

6) From the "More..." menu import the previuosly exported file.

7) Done!!

 

Thom Parker - Software Developer at PDFScriptingUse the Acrobat JavaScript Reference early and often
J
JoyDisability-SSDAuthor
Participating Frequently
February 7, 2020

Thanks! Shall give it a try.  Do you know why this would suddenly start happening?  I used to be able to insert pages whenever I wanted and appropriate fields would populate.

One problem all along, however, was that when they did populate, the 'appearance' would change from what the new form field was directed.  For instance, Times Roman 12 would become Helvetica, etc.

Thom Parker
Community Expert
Thom ParkerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
February 7, 2020

This is one of those things, and there are many of them, that are undocumented in Acrobat. But people get used to them working in a certain way. I don't think Adobe suddenly decides they're going to change a feature people are depending on, like some kind of evil wizard. It's just some low level technical change for some other reason, and opps, the odering of how fields are merged changes. 

 

If it's not documented, it's whatever happens. 

 

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