How to fill in PDF form then lock it?

[danielscholz]

Hello everyone,

We are creating a PDF form with prices and calculated sums of these prices.

Our reps will have to change these prices corresponding to the customer.

Afterwards the customer (who opens the PDF in Reader of course) should not be able to modify any of the fields neither see that there are actually fields.

Best way it should work I think is to hand the PDF to the rep, rep opens it, edits all the prices then locks all fields or the hole document.

The hole process should work as easy as possible within Reader.

What I tried:

• Protect the document with a password: There's no password request when clicking on the field to be edited.
• Script to lock/unlock certain fields: Works, but a prefix for the field names is needed which for some reason doesn't allow calculations.
• Script to flatten the document: Works in Pro only.

Can someone with expertise in this area lead me to what could be named as a "standard procedure" for this kind of issue?

[try67]

Do the reps also have Reader, or do they have Acrobat? Because you can flatten a file with any version of Acrobat, not just Pro.

[danielscholz]

It's Reader only.

[try67]

Then you can use a script to set the fields as read-only (I don't understand your comment about the prefixes), or use a digital signature field and set it to lock all the fields when signed. The latter is a safer solution, of course.

[AnandSri · Accepted solution]

Hi there!

++ adding to the correct and helpful information shared above by Try67, you may also take assistance from the updated Adobe articles Fill and sign PDF forms using Adobe Acrobat Fill & Sign

How to create a form using Adobe Acrobat

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

[varxtis]

What about template forms and mobile device processing?

I made a form for my wife's business. The form has various info (names, dates, times, locations, and most important prices) all unique to the job. To save time we set fields with the idea of creating a "template" form, that way she can fill out the required fields on her end, save, then send it to the client for them to fill out appropriate fields, sign, and return.

Important question: She'd prefer to fill and send via her android phone. Can any of the following even be done on any Android app? The links you provided don't cover this.

1. But we're hitting a brick wall right off the bat. She fills out the info, sends it to me, and I can overwrite everything she filled out except for the signature. Is there a way to lock/flatten(?) just the fields that my wife filled out?

2. If she can lock/flatten(?), how does she save as a separate PDF so as not to overwrite the original template form?

@try67 is helping with a signature question I had pertaining to the same project. But figured these are slightly different topics.