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christopherf89006267
Participating Frequently
August 15, 2018
Question

Acrobat Reader wants to save a form that wasn't modified (Windows 10)

  • August 15, 2018
  • 3 replies
  • 1160 views

Hello all,

I'm using Adobe Reader DC in Windows 10 to open a fillable-form (that I've generated using other software) to verify the layout and the look of the form fields, fonts, etc.

I have made no changes to the file, yet when I click the "X" to close it, I get a dialog

"Do you want to save changes to 'X' before closing?"

This seems like a bug (because the form was not modified in AR DC). This is also making for a longer work flow (more clicks) in my development process. Is there some way to turn off this behavior?

Is there a way to open a PDF file "Read Only" in Acrobat Reader? Again, my goal here is to reduce clicks in my development process.

Thanks!

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    3 replies

    C
    christopherf89006267Author
    Participating Frequently
    August 30, 2018

    I found some work-arounds for the same question on StackOverflow in case it's helpful.

    try67
    Community Expert
    try67Community Expert
    Community Expert
    August 15, 2018

    It could be one of a couple of things happening:

    1. The form is corrupt and Reader fixes it when you open it, which means you have to save the file after it was fixed, as it was edited by the application.

    2. There's a script embedded in the file that's changing something in it when it is opened, again forcing you to save it when closing it.

    If it's #1 there's nothing you can do about it. Save the file once and it should not happen again (as it should be fixed after that).

    You can check if it's #2 by disabling JavaScript (via Edit - Preferences - JavaScript) before opening the file. If it doesn't ask you to save it when you close it then you know it's a script. There's nothing you can do about that, either (unless you want to keep JS disabled for good), as Reader doesn't let you change things like embedded scripts.

    C
    christopherf89006267Author
    Participating Frequently
    August 16, 2018

    Thanks for the pointers.

    • I verified that it wasn't #2 (turning off JavaScript).
    • As for explanation #1, I did Save As... to a separate file, and then compared the two files using Notepad++. Acrobat Reader DC adds more than 200 lines of stuff after my file's %%EOF - everything prior is not changed. If anything, the file is incomplete by AR DC's expectations (not sure it's corrupt, at least according to pdf-online.com and its tools). I'm certainly not qualified to say if it's a bug, but it's 10 new objects, one of which is a lot of XML info. I won't judge it as a bug, since "these aren't the droids I'm looking for."
    try67
    Community Expert
    try67Community Expert
    Community Expert
    August 16, 2018

    After saving the file for the first time, does it happen again when you re-open it?

    Bernd Alheit
    Community Expert
    Bernd AlheitCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 15, 2018

    This is not a bug.

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