Form Field Properties missing Format, Validate, Calculate, etc.

[tunecrew]

Running Acrobat Pro DC 2017 Release (Continuous) 2017.009.20044 on OS X 10.11.6

Create a document in Word 2011 - go to Print -> Save As PDF or Print -> Save As Adobe PDF

Open PDF in Acrobat Pro

Select Tools -> Prepare Form, add different form fields (text, date, etc.)

This works fine, but all of them no matter what kind only have General, Appearance, Position, Options tabs in the Text Field Properties window. There are no tabs for Format, Validate, etc.

As a result, things like the Date field just end up being a plain text field that you can type anything into.

Please explain - what am I missing here? I used to do this all the time in older version of Acrobat.

I've tried to find an answer in the Acrobat documentation but no luck (the docs suck too).

[try67 · Accepted solution]

Click on Tools - Prepare Form and then click on "More" at the right side of the window and then on "Revert to Acrobat Form".

[Nesa Nurani · Accepted solution]

Try select 'prepare form tool, click on 'More', then 'Revert to Acrobat form'.

[Tim37209388aq1c · Accepted solution]

For Windows, the "Disable new Acrobat" is Under the main "File" menu.  Then you still have to follow the click on 'More', then 'Revert to Acrobat form' instructions. It's terrible we have to diable the new version twice to get to the functionality.  Thanks for this post.  I didn't even know what to look for before I saw this.  

[Jo29974413yefo]

Where is this More/Revert to Acrobat form?

[kingma-sbw]

At what point in time would this stop working? Knowing Adobe they are not to happy about people relying on old stuff (that works) and force the update

[tamalllll]

Thanks Broo

[smgauger911]

Awesome! This worked. 

Thanks a bunch!

[Guest]

I am having the same exact issue. My "date" properties are all overridden when I save. The format is perfect in the preview, but when I save and reopen the file, the properties have disappeared, and the date field is missing.

[Olivier36801927ng75]

The following worked for me in latest 2024 version: Remove e-signature 

When editing form the left pane title says "Prepare a form" followed by "..." and an X (to close the pane).

Click the elipsies (three dots), and remove e-signing option. 

Note - If this does not work , I had also enabled the javascript in Prefernces as suggested above. 

[Lonniusmax]

Thank you! This worked for me as well.

[Amal.]

Hi @Lonniusmax 

We are happy to hear that it worked for you.

Marking a reply or response “Correct” will help future users with the same issue quickly identify the correct answer.

~Amal