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Fillable form printing doubled text

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
February 18, 2019
10 replies
37058 views

I created a fillable form that is being used as an application to a training program. We have just started using this form, and have gotten two returned. When I view the files that were returned, it looks ok, but when I go to print it, we get the following error:

An error exists on this page. Acrobat may not display the page correctly. Please contact the person who created the PDF document to correct the problem.

Then, the document prints but some of the fields have duplicated text (so it appears like a second identical set of text is overlapped, but ever so slightly off center. So it gives a "double vision" effect).

This double vision effect happens with some of the fields, but not all of them.

Any idea what might be going on here? This fillable form was saved as a Reader-enabled document and I don't know what program was used to fill out the forms. Is this something on the user side, that they maybe used a non-acrobat program to fill out the form and it is corrupted? Or is there a printer setting we need to change OR did we set something up incorrectly with the fonts in the document itself?

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks

Print and prepress

Correct answer Test Screen Name

You should try filling it with Acrobat Reader. Apple's PDF form filling is notorious for damaging files, both on iOS and Mac.

M

mbginnard

Participant

We have found this occurs when a form is filled out using an Apple Project and then opened on a Windows product. It can even look correct on screen but then print in double. We fixed this by downloading the PDF then opening it in Edge Browser and printing from there.

A

alan_0404

Participant

Since we can not control the device or app that people use to fill out our forms I agree that using Edge is the simplist workaround and will be advising our team to do that. Has anyone opened a trouble ticket with Apple about it?

M

mbginnard

Participant

You can open the document in Edge and it looks (and prints) correctly!

S

SuperCat13

Participant

I have had the same problem. I went into the Order setting. I deleted all the fields that were in there. I emailed it to myself, filled it in on my iphone & emailed it back to myself. It looked strange on the screen, but when I printed it, it printed correctly. I use a Mac.

S

sharon26318515xg30

Participant

Check the layer settings in the Acrobat file, there might be invisible layers with content that was imported from illustrator. Which needs to be deleted, otherwise might show up in print view.

brianc85630067

Participant

The same thing was happening on a time off request form I created for my employees to complete, they all use iOS devices. What I did is deleted the text in the forms then clicked print and it worked. There was a layer in the background almost like a burn effect that I could not delete. So when I went to print it only had the layer I was unable to edit. Good Luck.

H

HelpfulDorset

Participant

Try printing the form in draft mode. I had the same problem but printing in draft mode worked perfectly.

J

jfoster_crpd

Participant

Way late to the party here, but, could you explain how to do this? Thanks!

T

Test Screen NameCorrect answer

Legend

You should try filling it with Acrobat Reader. Apple's PDF form filling is notorious for damaging files, both on iOS and Mac.

Liemavick

Participant

Thanks for the suggestion TSN, I downloaded Adobe reader from the play store and it worked like a charm. Boss was able to successfully print a legible fillable form. It appears Apples PDF reader software was the problem.

Abambo

Community Expert

Play store is Android, so I suppose you mean the App store?

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

What specific app are you filling it with, on the tablet? (The actual app you are in, not PDF apps you've installed)?

Liemavick

Participant

The default PDF reader on the Ipad. No other apps downloaded.

Liemavick

Participant

Good day, Im having the same issue with a little more input. Ive created the fillable form and am able to email it to myself and then retrieve it on my Ipad tablet. The form is filled out on the tablet and then emailed back to myself or others. I'm able to print the form fine on 3 different printers within my network. When I email it to my boss, when he prints it he gets the double vision font. During troubleshooting I tried to fill out the form on my PC and then emailed it to my boss, that printed fine. So one would think somehow the Ipad/PC conversion is messing things up, yet Im able to print fine. It is a bit perplexing, any and all help is appreciated.

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

Also, try this: export form data from the problem form. Close it. Open your good blank form. Import form data. Is it ok? Whew? Print it and quit (without saving perhaps).

Abambo

Community Expert

Let's do some small tests:

Does "Print as image" (Advanced button on the print menu) work?
When you fill out the form as the users would be supposed to do, does it work?
- if it works: Try to find out which program the user used (properties may be a good start), asking the user may be also a good idea.
- if it doesn't work: chase the error, it's related to your form.

If you do not find the error, create a new very simple form and try with that one. Work your way up.

You may also try to start deleting form fields from your current form. May be it is just one field that is wrong and messing-up the whole file!

If nothing works out, report back. In that case, however, you would need to share the form with us.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

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