Can't fill in Acrobat created PDF in Google Forms

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
November 2, 2024
2 replies
1507 views

I created an Acrobat fill-in form for a group of people to use. They share a Google Drive, so that's where it's saved. But when it's opened there, it can't be filled in. Anyone know why not and how to enable it?

PDF forms

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divyasin

Adobe Employee

Hi @Pamela36459753liwy ,

Thank you for reporting the issue. Can you confirm if the issue is only faced in Google Forms , or the form is not editable by other users in Acrobat as well ? If it is specific to Google Forms , then it may be a limitation from Google Forms (reference https://support.google.com/drive/answer/9463834?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&oco=1) . Hence to be fillable in Google Form , form might need to be created in the formats supported by them.

Regards,

Divya Kumar Singh

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Pamela36459753liwyAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks. I don't think it's opening Google Forms. It opens in a separate window that appears to be just a viewer provided by Google, and it can't be completed there. I did discover there's an "open with" option there that offers--at least for some people--to open it in Adobe Cloud, and it can be completed there. But I don't see any way to save the completed form from there directly back to the Google Drive unless it's connected to File Explorer on the computer--and not everyone may be willing to do that.

There is a workaround--save the file as a copy, then open it in the viewer, from there open it in Adobe Acrobat, and save. But they will have to remember to save it first, so if there's any way to make it fillable in the Google viewer itself, that would be preferable.

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Pamela36459753liwyAuthor

Participating Frequently

Uh oh...I just realized that even my workaround won't work for what I need to do, because there's an additional requirement. Once we complete the fill-in form, we need to be able to save it as a non-editable PDF. (This is a certificate, so the recipient shouldn't be able to change anything on it.) And I don't see any way to print or save it directly back to Google Drive as a non-editable PDF from the Google Viewer/Open With/Adobe Acrobat window.

Let me summarize: I want to use only a browser to open a fillable Adobe PDF from Google Drive, fill it in, and save it back to the Google Drive as a non-non-editable PDF without using File Explorer (and without having Reader or Acrobat installed on the computer).

The obstacles I am facing are:

1) Google Drive opens it in a viewer that doesn't allow it to be filled in.

2) Google does offer Open With, and Adobe can be chosen, which opens it in a new browser window on Adobe Cloud.

3) It can be filled in there but can't be "saved as" back to the Google Drive so that the original, blank form is preserved without using File Explorer.

4) That can be partially worked around by saving a copy before opening and editing in the Adobe Cloud window, then saving it, but it still can't be printed or saved from there as a non-fillable PDF without using File Explorer.

I'd appreciate any insights you or anyone else can offer. Otherwise, I may just have to give up and say my users have to download the file, have an Adobe product to edit it, and upload it back to the cloud. Some of my low-tech users simply will not do that--or wouldn't do it right even if they could.

radzmar

Community Expert

Maybe those people don't use a suitable PDF viewer for your form like Acrobat or Reader?!

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Pamela36459753liwyAuthor

Participating Frequently

Some don't, but that's the problem. I'm wondering if there's a simple way for them to complete it right there in the Google viewing window so they don't have to have another app or program. I did discover that at least on some systems (still determining if it's true of all), they're given an "open with" option and can choose Adobe and fill it in there in an Adobe Cloud browser window. But I'm going to create a new post about that, because there doesn't seem to be any way there to save it back to the Google Drive unless it's connected in the computer's File Explorer. Again, not everyone does that--they access the Drive only online.

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Pamela36459753liwyAuthor

Participating Frequently

Correction--I'm ot going to post the save issue elsewhere, because I figured out a workaround as explained in my resply to divyasin below.

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