I'm having issue with "Prepare Form" not auto filling on pages where there is a vector file

[Ark Hunter]

I'm creating PDFs in InDesign that have lines for "quantity" and exporting them, then opening them in Acrobat Pro DC to auto-add form fields with "Prepare Form". If there's an AI or EPS file on the page, they generally will not auto-create the fields for that page. I have to go back and convert the image, graphic, or whatever to a raster format of some sort to get it to work properly on reexport.

I assume this is a long-running bug as it's been doing this for quite a while. I keep updating and hoping it'll be gone. 

[try67]

We can't control or change the way the form fields detection wizard works. You have to find ways around it, as it will never produce a perfect result.

One option is to rasterize the page, run the wizard, then copy the fields it creates to a non-rasterized version of it.

Or just add the fields directly in InDesign...

[Ark Hunter]

This is pretty obviously caused by certain media being in the PDF.
My work around is to not use AI/EPS files in the InDesign document I create the PDFs from. It would be nice not to have to do that though. 

Adding the fields one by one is out of the question. There are hundreds of fields in some cases. (it's an order form) And I have to update and make new ones quite often, which would require adding all those fields every time. 

[try67]

> And I have to update and make new ones quite often, which would require adding all those fields every time. 

Not really. Once the fields are created you can use the Replace Pages command to insert the new pages instead of the old ones, which will keep all the fields in tact.

[Ark Hunter]

Interesting, but still more work than export and auto-add fields. And what happens when I remove a product/products? I have to delete and move fields around. What a pain that would be. 

They need to fix the issue so there doesn't need to be a workaround. 

[try67]

Correct, it's a pain and far from perfect, but it's pretty much the only option you have, unless you add the fields using a script.

[Bernd Alheit]

The field detection is not perfect.

[Ark Hunter]

It works pretty well except for the case I've stated with AI/EPS files and that's not a field detection issue, it's a bug. 

[try67]

It works well except for all the issues it has, such as:

-You can't control field names;

-It often creates fields in incorrect places;

-It often creates fields of an incorrect type;

-It often creates fields where none should be;

-It often doesn't create fields where ones should be;

-You can't automatically assign a specific Format setting, or even appearance properties, to the fields it creates;

-etc.

[Ark Hunter]

LOL, well it works pretty well for my uses at least besides this issue.

Some of the other things can be somewhat tamed by the initial document design. (in InDesign) but If you were just scanning a form and auto-filling fields, that could be a problem I guess. I've also had it add fields on lines that weren't meant to be fields, so I removed the lines in the document. And on another occasion, it was adding boxes around images I had a rule around. (though deleting fields is pretty easy in that case)