Participating Frequently

Question

Convert Forms/Secured Files into Simple PDF

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
July 13, 2022
3 replies
7953 views

I am a California Attorney. In many cases I need to use CA Court forms ( https://www.courts.ca.gov/forms.htm ). These forms have security and features (buttons and overlays) that do not display when printing. Now that my local counties have recently moved to eletronic filing, I have had to print these forms and scan them back into my computer and then apply text recognition in order to file them with the court.

Almost all other software that I have can 'print to PDF' or save as a PDF instead of printing. This appears to render the print job and then save it as a 'flat' or simple image PDF (without fields, buttons, and overlays). Adobe Acrobat appears to be the only software I have that does not allow this. It would seem that if any sofware should allow me to print to a new flat/image PDF, then Adobe Acrobat should allow this, rather than forcing me to print and scan the file back into the computer. Is there a feature of which I am not aware that would allow this? (I am on a Mac)

This topic has been closed for replies.

A

aKRURANATHA

New Participant

I have the same problem, but I am using Microsoft.

The comments criticizing the lawyer who asked the question are uncalled for. We lawyers just need to know how to get around this issue without having to print out and scan the forms. If Adobe offers no solution, that's fine. It is not a "rant", it is just a request for help in case there is a solution we are not aware of.

S

Scott25237270gyszAuthor

Participating Frequently

For all the other California Attorneys, and their staff, who continue to struggle with this. I finally found the simple work-around. You can open the protected forms in any web browser (Safari/Firefox/Chrome/etc.) and then print the protected form (with data in the fields) to a PDF file. You can then use the Edit feature on Acrobat to remove the colored boxes and buttons at the bottom of the last page. This will also let you put in custom fields (e.g. when the court form version does not have enough room or when you need to wrinte amended or supplemental at the top of the form.) If you are on a PC, I undertand that this is not even necessary, as Windows has a built-in PDF printer that accomplishes the same result.

It is inane that Adobe clings to its philosphical adversion to permitting printing to a PDF despite the realities of the world.

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

Tread very carefully here. Tampering with protected forms and changing them nullifies them for official use. That's no small matter legally.

Before you do anything that could potentially jeopardize the firm you work for, you should run this by your employer's decision makers (i.e. the stakeholders & partners).

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator

S

Scott25237270gyszAuthor

Participating Frequently

Ms. OShea,

I am the founder my law firm. I would welcome any authority you can provide suggesting that modification of California Judicial Counsel Forms, namely, permitting smaller font sizes, or addting annotations requested or provided by the court that would have been made in pen prior to e-filing, could our would nullify them for offical use. I have not seen anything suggesting this could even be an issue in the last 10 years of practice in the State of California. If you have information I am missing, then I implore you to share it with me.

T

Test Screen Name

Brainiac

Acrobat does not support removing security (including the trick of printing to PDF).

S

Scott25237270gyszAuthor

Participating Frequently

I am not trying to remove security. To the contrary, I am trying to print to a clean PDF within the scope of the security of the document without having to print to a piece of paper and scan the document back into the computer (at a loss of quality/clarity).

S

Scott25237270gyszAuthor

Participating Frequently

As previously stated, I am on a Mac. This option does not appear, and I understand that it has not been available now for several years.

By @Scott25237270gysz

This is by courtesy of Apple, who does not allow for virtual printers to be implemented.

I am familiar with Apple restricting virtual printers. Despite this restrition, the Mac OS supports 'printing' most if not all other file types to a PDF.

My understanding is that the restriction preventing me from using Adobe Acrobat to save a PDF as a new PDF and/or to 'print' a PDF I create to a new flat/simple/image PDF on my Mac is an Adobe Acrobat restriction. As stated above, several other PDF viewers/tools appear to permit this activity. If Adobe wants Acrobat to remain the gold standard for PDF interaction then there does not appear to be a good reason to prevent me from doing this (please review the discussion above)

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded