Printing PDF Form - lines

[GB123]

Hello Adobe Users

I recently created an interactive PDF using indesign. Primarily using the combo box option to create a fillable form with drop downs.

I want to be able to fill out the form, save the content selected in the dropdown, and then send on to clients without them being able to access the form fields (just to read the selected info)

I did some research that the only way to send on the PDF and not have the form fields accesible is to print to PDF or to flatten the pages. When I do either of these actions little black lines appear on the page where there are empty form fields (the type that appears on photocopied documents). I cannot figure out how to get rid of them or why they are there.

any help would be appreciated!

[try67]

Flattening is better than printing. Have you tried that? If so, post a screenshot of the issue you're seeing.

[GB123]

Yes I tried flattening and got the exact same problem. Can’t figure out how to upload screenshot but I’ve uploaded it to Flickr here 055A9B3E-B7C1-42C4-882C-D382C89CBACD | Gem Bc | Flickr

[try67]

Weird. Was the base of this form a scanned image or something like that?

[GB123]

No I started from scratch and made each form field by using the combo box option. I made text boxes that I then selected as combo box.

[try67]

Can you share the file with us (via Dropbox, Google Drive, Adobe Document Cloud, etc.)?

[GB123]

Here is a google drive link to both the interactive form and the "printed to PDF" version.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1tojSQN30Lla22NE-imO4n2vqnV7jo-S-

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_PX8idLLv7ljJ_A8m07bZ1M5lZ0rwVRa

[Bernd Alheit]

Did you create the dropdowns in InDesign or Acrobat?

[GB123]

in indesign

[Bernd Alheit · Accepted solution]

Try this:

In Acrobat delete the dropdowns and create new dropdowns.

[GB123]

Thanks for your help, i found if i made changes in the field in acrobat (enter custom text manually) it removes the problem.

[GB123]

Hi all - me again.

So i got the form to work after editing each field in acrobat. It looked fine. However, when opening up in acrobat on my mac i notice that there is no option to print to PDF. I want to be able to print to pdf for clients so that it flattens the form fields and doesn't send the fillable boxes to them. I note it has the option to save as PDF but that just sends the live form.

Is there an easy way to flatten the pdf when saving it without having to go through the optimise or flatten preflight steps? Print to PDF seemed to be the easiest and quickest option when using acrobat in Windows, not sure why I can't do it on the Mac.

Thanks

GBC

[Bernd Alheit]

It is not available on a Mac.

[GB123]

Thanks, wish we knew this before paying a 12 month subscription to acrobat.

[Bernd Alheit]

In Acrobat Pro you can use an action with this.flattenPages()

[GB123]

Thank you. I've since found that the flattening works or 'signing' the document but then when it is emailed to a mobile device the form data disappears and is left blank?

[Bernd Alheit]

Not, when you flatten the form fields.

[GB123]

Sorry are you saying that if I flatten the form fields it should be viewable on phones?

[Bernd Alheit]

Yes.

[GB123]

It didn’t work. Completely empty.

can you recommend a good pdf printer to download

[Bernd Alheit]

It will work when you use Acrobat Reader for mobile devices.

[GB123]

Thank you. I've since found that the flattening works or 'signing' the document but then when it is emailed to a mobile device the form data disappears and is left blank!