Issue with PDF Form Display in Adobe Reader

[nmattew]

There is a PDF form that includes fillable fields. I’m able to fill out and save the form without any issues. But when I send the form to others, they can see the filled details in a web browser version after waiting for a while, but not when they open it using Adobe Reader.

The strange part is that the filled-in information appears in the file preview, but when they open the document, the content disappears and the form appears blank.

[Amal.]

Hi there 

Hope you are doing well and thanks for reaching out. 

Web browsers use their own PDF mechanism to render and display the PDF file and they are not Adobe dependant. 

Have you created this PDF form or have you got it from a different user?  If you have created the PDF form, please try to make it Reader-enabled. 

1. Open the PDF
2. Click on the Menu icon 
3. Save as Other > Reader Extended PDF > Enable more tools (Include form fill in and Save) > and follow the screen prompts

Let us know how it goes.

[nmattew]

Hi
Thanks for the reply
Previously It was saving the entered data. Now only it started
Thank
Nirmal

[nmattew]

Hi Amal, I am a teacher, and the file was created by our technical team and is uploaded in the LMS. Students have to click the link, and once they complete the required details, they will submit it for assessment marking.

What will happen if we follow your instructions? 

[Amal.]

Hi there 

Hope you are doing well and thanks for reaching out. 

As correctly described by one of the Adobe employee, The PDF form is filled in a browser-based viewer (like Edge or Chrome), which saves the data in a way that isn't fully compatible with Adobe Reader.
The form is not Reader-enabled, meaning Adobe Reader cannot retain or display the filled data unless specific permissions are embedded. 

Please get in touch with your technical team and try getting it saved as Reader Extended PDF with more tools enabled and see if that works.

[try67 · Accepted solution]

Whatever application is being used to fill in the form fields is doing a bad job and corrupting the data. This is a known issue, especially with Apple Preview and various browser plugins. In Acrobat it's usually possible to fix this by exporting and then re-importing the data, or flattening the file, but those actions are not possible in the free Reader.

You should instruct your users to always open the file in Adobe Reader if you want it to work correctly.

[nmattew]

I'm using the web version for filling out the areas and save it with changes

[AnandSri]

Hello @nmattew 

I hope you are doing well.

++Adding to what our Adobe community product expert and employee have already shared, 

This behavior typically occurs when:

The PDF form is filled in a browser-based viewer (like Edge or Chrome), which saves the data in a way that isn't fully compatible with Adobe Reader.
The form is not Reader-enabled, meaning Adobe Reader cannot retain or display the filled data unless specific permissions are embedded

As correctly highlighted earlier, please ask the user to open and fill out the form using Acrobat Reader or the Acrobat Pro desktop app.

I hope this helps.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

[JR Boulay]

[MOVED TO THE ACROBAT READER DISCUSSIONS]

[nmattew]

Whenever I try to open a PDF file in browser, the following message appears: 

Bad Request

Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.

Reference #7.46b57568.1750897485.14a875a0

https://errors.edgesuite.net/7.46b57568.1750897485.14a875a0

Then after couple of minutes, the file will open by itself