saving completed forms into uneditable pdf

[marcusm29333434]

HI

I have just created a proposal for our business and I want my sales people to be able to fill it out and save it as a non-form pdf if they need to send a soft copy. ie make the forms not interactive when sent.

Could you tell me how to do this.

thanks

[try67]

Do they have Acrobat or just the free Reader?

[marcusm29333434]

Ideally id like them to be able to do it in reader but most of them have acrobat.

[try67]

With Acrobat it's possible to flatten the fields, converting them to static contents.

With Reader you can set them as read-only.

But the most secure way of doing it (in either application) is by digitally signing the document.

[marcusm29333434]

DO you have instructions for that?

Both Flattening the fields and or setting it up to sign the documents digitally.

Thanks so much for your help.

[try67 · Accepted solution]

- Flattening: Use this code:

this.flattenPages();

- Setting fields as read-only: Use this code:

for (var i=0; i<this.numFields; i++) {

    var f = this.getField(this.getNthFieldName(i));

    if (f==null) continue;

     f.readonly = true;

}

- Digital Signature: You can add it in Form Edit mode and then under its Properties go to the Signed tab and set it to lock all the fields when signed.

[marcusm29333434]

Thankyou very much for your help.

[DimitriM]

Hi,

If you want to be able to flatten the fields without having to enter code each time there is a free Flatten Page Content Tool here-

Free Acrobat Automation Tools

(scroll down the list of free tools, it is a ways down the list).

This will only work in Acrobat since you can't flatten content in the free Reader.

Hope this helps,

Dimitri

[default0lf37io6797w]

However, if the fillable form is available to more than one person, each person need to install this tool. The question is the following: What is the procedure to save the filled form ONLY in an uneditable form? Not to mention that it is not explained WHERE should I add the code?

[try67]

It depends on how you want it to be triggered. If you use a signature field use that field's Signed event.

Otherwise you can add a "Finalize Form" button to the file that will execute the code to flatten the fields, and also hide itself.

[default0lf37io6797w]

Thank you, I think you understood that I am a newbie.

Maybe I didn't make myself clear.

I created a fillable form, which my colleagues and I are going to use as needed.

However, after filling it, the SAVE procedure shouldn't work, only the SAVE AS, which will flatten the editable fields.

I tried with JS applied to "Document actions", but it (obviously) applies only to the opened document, so if  I open the fillable form and save, it will convert it to a RO file.

The "Finalize Form" would be very cool if it would request a file name change - I don't want to convert my fillable form.

Any suggestions?

[try67]

You can't prevent a file from being saved, unless it's located on a network drive that you control the permission on.

You can't create a generic function that will work when any file is saved in the application. All such scripts must exist within the file itself.

[Alexander24415016noal]

You can "print as pdf". The fillable form will be save as flattened uneditable file.

[DGodfrey90]

How is this done with code? I don't see that option in the execute menu item list. Can it be made to automatically select "save to PDF" as the printer?

[try67]

You can send the file to the Adobe PDF printer using a script, but you can't specify the file-name. The user will have to do that manually. Also, this won't work in Reader, as it doesn't come with that printer.

[Test Screen Name]

And of course it won't work on your salespeople's phones, tablets or Macs. If these are allowed.