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tiger2wild
Participant
August 1, 2017
Question

Need solutions for Fillable Form copy/paste issues

  • August 1, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 1625 views

Here is my situation:

I have created a fillable form from an Excel file that consists of non-fillable fields I use as labels (not literal labels for buttons) and fillable fields for users to input data (such as names/phone numbers/remarks). I need my users to be able to get both the labels as well as the data they input into the fillable fields to either a notepad/word doc (where they can be easily copy/pasted) OR find a way to make both fields (fillable and non) copy and paste-able by my users as they need to get the information into a third application which Adobe has no affiliation with or access to. Also, the form needs to be able to accomplish this quickly as the users will be more or less in a call center taking phone calls and time is important.

Additional info:

* I can create a clear form button which clears all the data for the user to reuse the form just fine, so that is not an issue.

* The option of a submit button (or similar) could work if there was a way to configure it to create a local file on the user's desktop (or other predetermined directory/location) with the local file being "overwritten" with each press of the "submit" button. This file would need to allow the user to copy/paste all information from the Form (both fillable and non fillable fields). A button like this could only work if the user would be able to perform the entire action (creating the local document or exporting to it/overwriting it) with a single click of the button. Basically, I don't want the user to have a "Save As..." or "Export as..." dialogue box pop up on them every time they use the button. I want them to be able to click the button once and it creates/exports to the local file.

Hopefully this all makes sense. And also, hopefully, it is possible. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

try67
Community Expert
try67Community Expert
Community Expert
August 1, 2017

It's possible to do that, but it requires a script to be installed on the local machine of each user. Is that possible in your case?

If so, a script can be written to "unlock" the read-only fields, save a copy of the file in the desired location, and then re-lock them in the original file.

T
tiger2wildAuthor
Participant
August 1, 2017

First off, thank you very much for a reply with a potential solution, as well as how fast it was!

Secondly, to be honest, I am uncertain if this will be possible or not. There is a lot of "red-tape" for me to go through in order to get permissions for a LOT of things when it comes to scripts and programming and the like. Without going into too much detail, I work for a government agency which has strict rules and guidelines on what can and cannot be put into place. I am too new to the department to know exactly what I personally can and can't add to each machine.

That being said, if this is something I will be able to do, could you please elaborate on how I would implement it? I am not adept at programming or writing scripts and adding them to things like this; however, I have found that I am a quick learner when I must be, and this is a must be situation.

Thanks again for a fast reply and I hope we can make this work together!

try67
Community Expert
try67Community Expert
Community Expert
August 1, 2017

This tutorial is a good start regarding saving the file using JS: https://acrobatusers.com/tutorials/how-save-pdf-acrobat-javascript

The rest of it is just a simple loop that iterates over all the (read-only) fields in the file, first unlocking them (maybe save their names in an array to use later), and then locking them again by setting them as read-only.

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