Lost work made with 'Fill and Sign' in Acrobat Reader DC (saved work before exit)

Report · Sep 22, 2015

Hello,

I am in a similar situation. I filled in form fields using "fill and sign". I deliberately saved the work as I did it, after about an hour I closed Acrobat Reader DC. I then opened it up again in a minute - and all my changes were there fine.

I've now come back 3 days later and all the changes have gone, leaving only the empty form. Note: I kept a copy of the original form file and it is 0.5MB, the "edited" file is 3.5MB which suggests that the changes are still there, but somehow hidden.

Could you help?

Thanks,

Peter

Report · Feb 24, 2017

I recently used Fill & Sign with the latest version of Acrobat DC with no problems (being sure to make copies of my PDF file before I closed it). So in that sense it may be "resolved," but I'm afraid that won't help if you're experiencing the issue right now. The only thing I can offer you is the lengthy recovery process that I described on 1-13-16. I don't recall ever hearing from Adobe on this issue and I haven't looked for a replacement app (sometimes I just use Adobe Illustrator for this purpose, but that's not an ideal solution for a non-designer).

Report · Mar 02, 2017

I have almost the same issue using a standard fillable field such as an IRS form. Using a MAC, I filled in the form just as I've done in past years, and saved it. When I opened the file a few days later, nothing came up, but the file size indicates that there is data. To confirm that, I clicked on a field and the data showed up in that field only! However when I released the click, the data was gone.

This was hours of work on multiple forms. Adobe, where are you ??????

Report · Mar 02, 2017

Just solved this for now .... I set my default to Apple Preview, closed the file and then reopened it, and everything is there! Still, previous for previous years the same files, 1040's etc., will open just fine in Adobe or Preview. Adobe needs to solve this before we are really screwed and nothing will open the file!

Report · Mar 18, 2017

My situation is a little different but if it helps anyone, great. We send out contracts/forms to be completed by our customers and sent back. They "save as" so it reflects their account with us. It seems that when someone is using a mac, or really any Apple product including an iphone, even though they have saved the completed form, it comes back to me blank when I open it in MS Outlook which in turn opens the document in Adobe Acrobat DC. But I just discovered that if I use webmail (like gmail), when the file is downloaded and opens up in my browser, all the info is there.

It's not a fix, but I hope some of you can find your info if this applies to you

Report · Sep 23, 2021

Well, it's been a few years since this thread was active but I'm having the exact same problem. I've been a Creative Cloud subscriber for about 5 years and haven't had the problem until this week. It seems to work perfectly as long as I only fill a pdf, but if I sign one, the signature and any data I added during that session will all be gone when I next open the file. Sometimes, after redoing my work and saving it over again, and again, and again, it will suddenly work but that's obviously extremely frustrating and not a real solution.

I have tried making copies of my files, restarting my computer, and un/reinstalling Acrobat but all to no avail.

Report · Nov 12, 2021

I dont know if this issue went away then returned or if it just never went away. I 'm experiencing this issue too. I fill out pages full of info with fill and sign, saving my progress with each entry, then randomly when I save an entry it will deleat all the info I previously added, undo will not restor the info because it deletes only when I click save, so the file gets saved with all data removed. So much productivity is lost with this issue. what is the fix for this?

Report · Nov 12, 2021

I should Add, I am using Windows 10 on a Laptop when this is happening, Not sure if that helps but its there if you need it.

Report · Mar 14, 2022

I just spent hours creating a 14 page contract; saved it as reader extended with fill in form capability; then go to send it for e signature and all the form fields; ie. customer name, address, jobsite, contract amount etc; disappeared. I did a test one. to myself and I can sign a blank document; so I was able to get the yellow signature flags to work but NO DATA. Seems like this has been an issue for years and frankly, was refusing to go with adobe sign because I just don't have time to teach staff to do "work arounds"; it needs to work as advertised. (using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC).

Has anyone found the root cause yet

Report · Mar 24, 2022

I spent HOURS on Sunday working on a Fill & Sign document. I came back this evening to finish it, and the PDF is now toally blank. Paying for this Adobe Pro and using it on the web is not worth it. It's so clunky and non-intuitive to use. Now, it has lost a half day of work on my day off. I have to start over, and it's due tomorrow. It's going to be a very late night. Thanks, Adobe. It's definitely time for me to cancel this monthly service and use Word or Google Docs. I do not see a viable fix on this. I used the web-based version on a Chromebook.

Report · Nov 23, 2023

i found this question in google search in noticed no solution, today i had the same problem for the first time with a pdf form, i found that the solution is to fill some text in the form and instead of save as do print to pdf file and create a new file after that edit the new pdf file normaly and do save each time it will save the changes.