Convert Forms/Secured Files into Simple PDF

[Scott25237270gysz]

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)

[Scott25237270gysz]

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.

[Nancy OShea]

Adobe has nothing to do with creating official forms. That's not their wheelhouse.  Protected forms are issued that way by the State or County agency that created them.

I defer to The Judicial Council of California's Rules for Use (see link below).  Connect the dots as you see fit.

https://www.courts.ca.gov/3019.htm

[Abambo]

Ms. OShea,

I am the founder my law firm.

By @Scott25237270gysz

So di your job! go after the bad guyse, not the messengers of the bad news, and surly also not after the provider of a tool.

BTW: the PDF format is not anymore property of Adobe. There is a standard out, and anyone who wants can conform to that standard. Find the tool doing what you want. But don't blame Adobe, when the solution you found, does not work as it should.

[Abambo]

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

By @Scott25237270gysz

Your law (as you are a lawyer) seems to have a rather strange flow:

Someone puts a lock on a gate where you need to pass. Instead of going after the one who ordered the lock and installed it, you are ranting after the lock manufacturer for refusing anybody to open the backdoor to enter through this gate and any other gate where a similar lock is installed, including, btw, your front door. Ranting is good, but you should really rant against the one who did ask the lock to get installed. 

[Nancy OShea]

A nice analogy, @Abambo.

[Scott25237270gysz]

But the gate in your analogy is on two posts with no wall to either side, and the ground on both sides of the gate is flat, but muddy.  Adobe is making people trek through the mud because Adobe does not want people using the gate.  The gate does not keep people out, especially those who need to get past, it only makes them get their shoes covered in mud.  The philosophical reason not to permit people to print to a PDF from Acrobit that zero real-world application, as evidenced by the ability to (a) print to a piece of paper and scan that paper back into the computer, and (b) open the Secure PDF file in any other PDF reader and then print the Secure PDF to a regular PDF.  If the Secure PDF allows printing, then it should allow printing to a PDF.

[Nancy OShea]

You're missing the point.  You need to take this up with the agencies who created your PDF documents in the first place.  Adobe merely provides services with which to view & sign documents after they are created. 

In my experience, most State forms were created with LiveCycle -- a product that no longer exists.  I couldn't hack them without creating damage that rendered the forms unusable.  I was advised by my attorney to never modify mandated forms as they could be rejected at the whim of the court.  That was too much drama for me so I switched to a document preparation service and never looked back.