PDF saved on macOS opens blank in Windows 10

[Angela5C1B]

Hi,

I'm experiencing an issue with a filled in pdf form that was saved in macOS opening blank in Windows 10. I've adjusted security settigns in Adobe DC Reader and tried opening in a web browser and printing to pdf but still only half of the information saves with that workaround. I know it's not a corrupt file because I can view the information in Outlook preview and on various web browsers with all the information displayed. Any thoughts on a workaround or solution?

Thanks!

[Dov Isaacs]

How did you “fill in” the PDF form on MacOS? If you used the MacOS Preview application, you may have a corrupted PDF form file.

[Angela5C1B]

Sorry for the confusion. This was a form that I recieved. I could see it was filled in by the client via the preview in outlook and when opening in Firefox but Adobe DC Reader just showed the blank fillable pdf.

[Dov Isaacs]

Most likely the PDF form was actually an XFA PDF form created by Adobe LiveCycle Designer. Such PDF forms are corrupted by Preview, the biggest (but not the least) problem of which is that Preview knows nothing about the XFA aspect of the PDF file and only fills in the PDF Acroforms compatibility portion of the form.

If that is indeed the case, the PDF file is effectively FUBAR. Try to have person filling out the form take a new blank form and fill it out with Adobe Acrobat Reader DC on MacOS and then send it to you.

Note that even for regular PDF forms (i.e., not the XFA variety), Preview is known to corrupt the PDF file when filling out the form.