Prepare form is missing a lot of fields from a word document

You should see episodes 52 and 53 of this podcast, it's about InDesign but layout rules are the same:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-indesigner/id96779509

It's a two-part question:

> it looks like there is no way to update/validate the pdf file so the work starts all over again

That's not true. You can do that by using the Replace Pages command on the file with the fields.

That will insert the new pages over the old ones, while keeping all of the pre-existing fields in tact.

Of course, you'll need to adjust their locations if the layout changed, but you won't need to start all over.

> Is there any way to know how to prepare the .docx file in such a way that the Acrobat will recognize where there needs to be fields?

Not really, since we don't know the internal workings of this wizard. It's pretty much trial-and-error.

The best way to do something like that is to use a script to identify and create the fields, but that's only possible if you use textual characters to specify where they should be located.

For example, I've developed two (paid-for) tools that convert underscores to text fields and various Wingdings characters to check-boxes or radio-buttons, and they work with 100% accuracy and consistency.

You can find them here:

https://www.try67.com/tool/acrobat-reader-convert-underscores-to-text-fields

https://www.try67.com/tool/acrobat-reader-convert-wingdings-characters-to-check-boxes-or-radio-buttons

With replace pages you can use a updated PDF file.