Fillable form data disappears after saving

[Guest]

I downloaded a form with fillable data fields and it took more than an hour to complete.  After saving the file, when I reopen it, the data flashes in the form fields and then disappears.  Where does it go? And, how do I get it back?  What setting can I change to keep this from happening?  I really don't want to have to re-type all that data again...

I'm using Acrobat Pro 9 on a Win 7 pc...

EDIT... I changed my reader to Acrobat DC and got the same result.  The data flashes across the fields then disappears.  I also e-mailed the form (completed) to another computer with the same result on opening.

Thanks,

Bob

[George_Johnson · Accepted solution]

The form is probably set up so that the fields are reset when it's opened. You can try disabling JavaScript before opening the form, and if it relies on JavaScript, enable it after the form is loaded.

To disable JavaScript, select: Edit > Preferences > JavaScript > Enable Acrobat JavaScript [de-select]

[Guest]

It worked... why would they do something like that?  Kinda stupid if you ask me...

Thanks,

[George_Johnson]

There was a time, many years ago, when it made sense to do this. I even advocated the use of a particular script for resetting the fields when the form was opened that I still see in use today. The reason for doing this was to reset forms that are used in a browser. At the time, form data from the previous use of the form was automatically reloaded from a temporary FDF (Forms Data Format) file that Acrobat/Reader generated. This presented a security problem, and the only thing to do was reset the form when it was loaded. This was before Reader was able to save a filled-in form, so it made sense. Since that time, Adobe removed this automatic form data loading feature, so there is no longer a security problem and it no longer makes sense to reset the form upon loading in most cases. You still see some people wanting to automatically reset the form each time it's used, but it's unusual these days.

[bump_and_run]

I'm looking for something similar except I would like the data to go away when the document is closed.  Is that possible?

[bump_and_run]

Now that I think about it, resetting it when it opens would work the same way 🙂  Can I get that script from you?

Thanks,

Dave

[try67]

The code to reset the form is simply this:

this.resetForm();

[bump_and_run]

Perfect, thanks!