Fill & Sign Unknown Error

[Logan_Borer]

I'm hoping that someone can help to shed some light on this.

I help to develop a software that has the ability to generate PDF output for various forms and reports. Recently, we found that some of our PDF documents throw the error 'The operation failed because Adobe Acrobat encountered an unknown error.' in Acrobat Reader DC (Version 2019.008.20080), but works fine in the latest release of XI. The only difference (in DC) between forms that work and those that fail, is the use of embedded True Type Fonts.

I have found that running the PDF through the PDF printer seems to correct the issue, but I can't expect our clients to do this for every document they generate. I've also tried disabling the security settings per other suggestions on this forum with no change in behavior.

[Logan_Borer · Accepted solution]

I found the problem. If the PDF is missing 'CapHeight' in it's dictionary for 'FontDescription', DC will not load the file, while XI will.

[Harold_Bien]

I'm having similar issues, and the use of Microsoft's Print to PDF does not solve the problem. I am encountering this problem on _all_ PDFs, generated directly through Microsoft Word or Print to PDF. Can you clarify please which "PDF printer" you used, and if (as I suspect) this issue is with the PDF itself, how I can go about correcting the missing CapHeight entry for FontDescription retroactively, i.e. after PDF creation? Thanks.

[hereld]

How did you snoop the pdf dictionary?  And have you been able to edit it to fix the problem?

[default4l93wnxzg7a2]

Same issue here. With Acrobat Reader XI, I could sign PDFs that I generated in Excel from a protected form. Now I can't. The PDF file properties doesn't show that it is protected or restricted, but every attempt to sign or add annotations results in "unknown error." Programs ought to be more helpful than that when errors occur, by the way.