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J
Jellevant
Participating Frequently
July 6, 2011
Answered

pdf form calculation not calculating

  • July 6, 2011
  • 6 replies
  • 64500 views

I created a form yesterday - with the extensive help of a forum member - and thought it was fine until I checked it online.  I have a column of items with quantity x price = total, and a grand total at the end that adds the individual totals. 

Problem:  when I test it, it never picks up the last item entered (whichever one it is) and so the grand total is always wrong.  This obviously renders the form useless!

The form is at drronaldlevant.com/new/orderform.pdf.  Can anyone find the bug? 

BTW I used Acrobat 9 pro on a macbook.  Tested on mac and pcs, and friends' macs and pcs.  Same issue everywhere.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer George_Johnson

    The problem is the field calculation order is incorrect. To correct it, go into forms editing mode (Forms > Add or Edit Fields) and then select "Forms > Edit Fields > Set Field Calculation Order" and set the correct order.

    6 replies

    R
    Rachel37086875hyar
    New Participant
    April 30, 2024

    This is so much later, but posting in case it's helpful to people looking for information in the future. I found that my form wouldn't total online because I had the field marked as "read-only" once I changed it so that it was no longer "read-only" it started calculating when accessed through Chrome.

    R
    Renae28413270wsyp
    New Participant
    June 14, 2023

    Hi, I am having the same issue! I have checked the Field Calculation Order and there is still no help. My calculation works when I am in Adobe Acrobat, but not once the file is saved as a PDF.  Can someone please help?

     

    https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:4ee7d02c-2c95-39d9-8a27-cd80c70001c5 

    Nesa Nurani
    Nesa Nurani
    Inspiring
    June 14, 2023

    Are you opening a file in some other application?

    R
    Renae28413270wsyp
    New Participant
    June 14, 2023

    Hi Nesa, just in Preview on my Mac computer. 

     

    A
    Anonymous
    July 7, 2011

    Hi Jellevant

        I took your latest form and gave it the extended features for Adobe Reader.

        I still can't find any problem with the totals.

        Here is the link.

    http://www.nixmailmac.com/forumkfmx.pdf

        The only related issue I know of is that my Safari was in 64 bit mode and it would not read a calculation form I have online.  I think someone here said to go to Get Info on the Safari icon and open in 32 bit mode and it works fine now.

    Ron

    J
    JellevantAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    July 7, 2011

    Well, that did ring a bell.  The pc I test on is a 64 bit machine.  However, I just tried your version of the form on my mac in Chrome and the calculations do not work.  Entering a quantity updates the individual total but the final total stays at 0.

    G
    George_Johnson
    Inspiring
    July 7, 2011

    Chrome's built-in PDF viewer has limited support for PDF forms, and does not support JavaScript, which is what Acrobat uses behind the scenes when you use one of the built-in calculation options.

    A
    alancard
    New Participant
    July 7, 2011

    I wonder if this is related to the problem I'm having (See Recent Form Calculation Problems here: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/872931?tstart=0).

    If the calculations seem to work at first and then break once you've saved and re-opened the form, you might be battling the same bug I am, in which case no amount of attention to how your calculations are set up is going to fix anything.

    For the past week, every newly-saved form I make (even just as extended-features-enabled copies of existing forms that work perfectly well) fails to calculate once I close it and re-open it.  I assume it's the result of some software update or another, but the truth is I have no idea.  --And apparently nobody else does, since no one responded to my post.-- But if you're suffering from the same problem, then your calculation set-up may be perfectly fine.  I've replicated the problem on a number of very simple test forms, as well.  They work fine... until I hit save, close them, and re-open them.  Then they're just inert.

    Good luck!

    Alan

      K
      Kashif26802992duhm
      New Participant
      October 30, 2022
      • Same problem is with my case.
      • I am worried about this problem
      • Please guide me anyone 
      try67
      try67
      Braniac
      October 30, 2022

      Please share the file in question.

      A
      Anonymous
      July 7, 2011

      Hi Jellevant

          I looked at your form here on my iMac with Acrobat 9 and it seems to total up correctly.

          Could it be  that when you enter the last quantity field you did not hit tab or click somewhere else on the page? The result doesn't show up until you hit tab or click somewhere.

          I redid some of the form to hide the zeros. Go here and see if it works.

      http://nixmailmac.com/forum.pdf

      Ron

        J
        JellevantAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        July 7, 2011

        Thanks for doing that.  My first attempt to use the form you made was on Chrome on my mac.  It did not work, so I didn't even try it on the pc.  The individual totals do change when the quantities are entered but the final total stays at 0.  The only button that worked was the Reset.  I couldn't save to computer, couldn't click through to paypal.  These are necessary functions for the intended users who will not likely own acrobat and most probably be on pcs.

        What I've found is that testing correctly in Acrobat does not mean it will work once it's online.

        The latest iteration is now drronaldlevant.com/new/orderform_kfmX.pdf if you have any other ideas.

        G
        George_JohnsonCorrect answer
        Inspiring
        July 7, 2011

        The problem is the field calculation order is incorrect. To correct it, go into forms editing mode (Forms > Add or Edit Fields) and then select "Forms > Edit Fields > Set Field Calculation Order" and set the correct order.

          J
          JellevantAuthor
          Participating Frequently
          July 7, 2011

          Unfortunately, it's not the order that is the problem.  I need to use the Extend Usage option so that users with pcs can save the completed form.  Once I do that, calculations AND other links cease to work. 

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