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A
akyd8807993
Known Participant
May 22, 2017
Question

PDF Encoding in Chrome plugin

  • May 22, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 3343 views

I created a PDF with a fillable form (textfields), some of who have default values. These values are in Unicode text (that is, they're stored internally as UTF-16BE). When I open the document in Acrobat Reader, it works fine. But when I mail it and try to open it in Google Chrome, it doesn't. When Chrome opens it directly (that is, when I click the attachment), the form is hardly shown, and the JavaScript doesn't seem to be running. When I save the document to the local drive and click it, it opens it with Chrome, but differently. Now the form is shown and the JS is running, but the text is shown incorrectly, as if it was iso-8859-1 or windows-1250 encoded.

Is there any way to get the form and JS running in Chrome without the need to save and re-open? is there any way to get the Chrome plugin to treat the encoding correctly?

Also, are there other browesers with more surprises? I want my file to be mailable, so that every browser will be able to open it correctly. Is it possible?

Thanks a lot!

This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

T
Test Screen Name
Legend
May 22, 2017

I think the second item (revised browser plugins) is highly doubtful. Plugins appear to be on the way out entirely. Edge doesn't allow them. Mobile browsers don't either. iOS seems to make aftermarket plugins for any app impossible.

T
Test Screen Name
Legend
May 22, 2017

The problem is much, much worse than you think.  I argue that PDF forms have been killed by the success of PDF (since everyone is now drowning in PDF readers which don't do forms well, or at all, or which break them, and people on mobiles can't even get a proper Adobe reader).

try67
Community Expert
try67Community Expert
Community Expert
May 22, 2017

I hope this situation will be solved when the browser plugins are improved to the point where forms will work in them correctly, and/or when Adobe will produce a new version of its plugin (and mobile app) that works with all the browsers and offers the full features we expect it to. If neither thing will happen then yes, the fate of PDF forms as a global standard is in doubt, unfortunately.

try67
Community Expert
try67Community Expert
Community Expert
May 22, 2017

That is something you'll need to report to the developers of the Chrome PDF plugin. It has nothing to do with Adobe.

And yes, unfortunately there's a chance it will happen with other browsers as well, as many of them now use their own internal PDF plugins instead of Adobe's, and they are often sub-par, especially when it comes to form fields and scripts.

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