Known Participant

Question

Text is jumping in placement after finished with field?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 4, 2018
3 replies
8215 views

Hello -

I've recorded the issue because it's hard to describe - basically I have a form with a ton of fields and they are all correct in placement in Adobe Acrobat. When I preview or fill it out there, it is fine. When I open it with Preview or the web through Safari or on the web, he text placement changes. After you finish typing, it jumps up a slight bit - making everything out of place. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal but there a lot of fields here in a small amount of space.

The font is set at a particular height - it is not variable, so that's not the issue. I've disabled multiline. How do I prevent this so that when they type, the text stays exactly where it should be? Is there a way that I can anchor the text to stay at the bottom of the field vs the top, if that's the issue?

Or is this just a Mac quirk that I have to live with?

Here is the form live - (ugly link, b/c it's just for y'all)

https://www.archwaygenealogy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/ArchwayGenealogy_PedigreeChart_editable_June2018-1.pdf

Thank you for your help

- alexa

PDF forms

This topic has been closed for replies.

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

I agree. So PDF forms are doomed, because of the success of (non-form) PDF. I wouldn't plan something with a lifetime in years, and to plan something with a lifetime in decades seems inconceivable.

akcadobeAuthor

Known Participant

Thank you for the constructive responses. So am I to assume that Preview is to blame for it also happening in Safari? Is it the embedded PDF reader in Safari? (Legitimately asking here - this post has been an education on Adobe forums for me)

That is the video I posted - within Safari, not actually in Preview. This is again what’s likely to happen because it’s shared as a template from a webpage - yes, we all know it’s better for them to download and complete on their computer, but for my non-savvy clients, that’s unlikely to happen when it opens in front of them.

For those suggesting an actual HTML form, I get it - it’s just a lot of information that is supposed to end in this exact form specifically. People tend to fill in what they know, skip around, go back in an add things and continue to refer to this same chart until it’s complete and then it’s also linked to other pedigree charts for their family by the numbering system. So it’s just more involved than asking for the information in a form.

Thx again.

G

George_Johnson

Inspiring

Yes, Safari uses the same engine as Preview.

akcadobeAuthor

Known Participant

Ok, sigh, thanks.

I haven’t experienced this with other forms and in my own universe prior to this, so I hoping there were some other options in the “prepare form” settings.

Thx

Bernd Alheit

Community Expert

Don't use Apple Preview.

akcadobeAuthor

Known Participant

fantastically not helpful, thanks. I obviously cannot control what PDF reader people will use when they download and complete the form. Is your point that there is no way to fix this?

J

johnb68146259

Known Participant

Levi, Adobe invented PDF then gave it to the world to play with. As long as only Adobe made software they could control the quality and features. But PDF is now universal, a huge SUCCESS. But most of the other people making software have given a very low priority to forms. Some software ignores forms; some show existing filled in forms without filling features; some have a go at filling features but have serious errors and omissions. Adobe also let the ball drop big time on mobile devices.

Now, very few of us are in a position to demand people use Adobe software (and only on a Mac or Windows). The IRS are in that position, for example. Others will find users say "I can already read PDF, why would I install something else". Commonly, too, people install Reader but don't understand this does not fix their other apps. This inconsistent experience means for me, PDF forms are a very poor choice for general distribution. Hence, PDF forms were killed by the success of PDF.

Question along these lines...

My goal is to get a set form field out and get the data back in a printable format. iOS is so wide spread that avoiding it altogether is virtually impossible.

What recommended route is left to take? Just send an Excel sheet? Which people can mess up as easily (or easier) than using Preview to fill pdf forms. I saw a recommendation for HTML forms. Assuming the end user does not have net access (out here in the oil fields, net access is not always assured), how would they go about saving something like that in a formatted manner? Even if it dumped to a csv that could be used to repopulate the form on my end, is there a platform in place for something like that?

I realize this is getting away from the heart of this forum, but if Adobe and Apple can't make something like pdf forms play well together than this is a 100% dead format. And there is no reason to keep paying for this software which is honestly making my job harder. I will just start distributing hard copies of the tickets and manually entering the data when the techs send pictures of their notes.

If net access were assured, I would love to setup a php/python script which populates a mySQL table. I could work with that all day long.

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