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Christian5C52
Participating Frequently
September 25, 2020
Answered

Filling text form in preview on mac creating another layer behind the field

  • September 25, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 3962 views

I have created some PDF's with fillable text forms. When some users are attempting to fill out the form in preview on a mac they are having some wierd issuesL
- the field duplicates behind the clicked field, in another font
- when they try and start typing, the curser moves to the bottom of the paragraph and its complately unsuable. 
Has anyone seen this? How can I fix it?


This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer George_Johnson

Preview should never be used for PDF forms. There are a number of very good reasons for this, but in general, it has lousy support for forms and even damages them in a number of ways when it saves. If you want a PDF to work correctly, it is best to use Adobe Reader or Acrobat.

3 replies

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Tamara33914982ghf4
New Participant
November 28, 2023

So I use fillable pdfs daily, and these forms are filled out and returned to me by hundreds of people. I have had SO many returned to me with double vision text, in the fields they filled out... as mentioned in this stream. These are typically emailed back to me or shared. Every one of them is done through an Apple device.  Interestingly, if I am emailed the form, the fields look normal in the preview of the email. It is after I download it from my gmail to my hard drive, that upon viewing it from my download folder, it shows doubled/tripled.  I have found however that if I print it from my gmail preview, and save it as a PDF, it saves without any issues. Maybe this will help everyone else.  T

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George_JohnsonCorrect answer
Inspiring
September 25, 2020

Preview should never be used for PDF forms. There are a number of very good reasons for this, but in general, it has lousy support for forms and even damages them in a number of ways when it saves. If you want a PDF to work correctly, it is best to use Adobe Reader or Acrobat.

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    Test Screen Name
    Brainiac
    September 25, 2020

    Don't use Preview to fill forms. For many years it has been broken, and Apple have no interest in fixing it. Your users MUST be led to use the right software - Acrobat Reader. They also need to avoid browsers and email apps.

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