Adobe form opening up weirdly

Forum|Forum|7 months ago
June 18, 2025
2 replies
829 views

A form was created using Designer. When the form is being clicked on to open, from a publication, it opens weirdly, via the open in app. Other forms in our publications open up in Adobe without any additional steps. See attached screenshots to see how we have to open this form. We have adobe pro version 25 and this is saved with the reader extended PDF, enable more tools and fill-ins.

Would appreciate any assistance and guidance on how to get this form to open in Adobe without the edit in app method.

Thank you!

PDF forms

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

I looks as if you are turning to open up the Designer* form in a browser or web-based viewer. The XFA documents don't work that way--you need to download them to your harddrive and open directly in Acrobat, bypassing the browser.

I'm assuming the other forms were created in Acrobat Pro.

See this page for a comparision between the two formats:

https://www.ideastraining.com/classOutlines/AcroFormsVsXFA.html

*I'm assuming you are referring to LiveCycle/AEM Designer.

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

Y

yolanda_0214Author

Participating Frequently

The forms are in a publication and updated frequently, so they cannot be downloaded and stored.

The other form was created with LiveCycle/AEM Designer as well.

Y

yolanda_0214Author

Participating Frequently

Just to clarify, one of these forms opens in the browser and the other doesn't?

Your 4th screen capture shows the form opened directly in Acrobat. That isn't what you mean by opening properly, is it?

Correct, I'd like the contract review form to open up directly in adobe.

T

Tariq Ahmad

Community Manager

Hi @yolanda_0214,

Thank you for reaching out.
XFA document usually contains JavaScript, and can perform some operations hence the sandboxing. You can whitelisting the location in Acrobat > Preference > Security(Enhanced) and that should help.

Also, you need Acrobat to open XFA Form aka Designer form: https://adobe.ly/4n8xKtQ

Let us know if you have further questions.

~Tariq