Fillable PDF forms coming through blank as attachment

Report · Feb 26, 2016

Hi all, hopefully you can shed some light on an issue I'm currently having.

I have created a fillable form that requires the user to input some basic information, which then I receive as an e-mail with the PDF attached. However, some of these forms come through blank with no text in them. I'm wondering if there's a reason or a possible fix for this. I'm creating the fillable fields through Acrobat, saving it as the following: File -> Save As Other -> Reader Extended PDF -> Enable More Tools (includes form fill-in & save).

Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.

Report · Feb 28, 2016

Hi wb81191140,

Would like to know what the people that are filling in the form are using? This seems to be common occurrence when they are using something other than Adobe Reader to fill it out (Mac Preview for example).

Please check with this to replicate the issue.

Also It seems to be an issue with the font. You can make a "blank" form visible by following these steps:

1. Click on Forms > Add or Edit Fields.
2. Click on Edit > Select All.
3. Right click on one of the form fields and click on Properties.
4. Click on the Appearances tab.
5. Change the font size.
6. Click Close.
7 Click on Close Form Editing.

Regards,

Yatharth

Report · Feb 28, 2016

The mac Preview issue has been around for a long time. Apparently Mac Preview makes a small change to the form field object that prevent Acrobat/Reader from displaying the date within the field. almost any change to the field within Acrobat/Reader will restore the form field to the needed construction.

One can alsoExport the data to an FDF or XFDF file and then import that FDF/XFDF file.

Report · Feb 29, 2016

Hi, thanks for your reply.

When I'm trying to edit the form it states "You cannot edit this file as a form." I've checked the security in the properties and it has no restrictions whatsoever. Any idea on why this type of dialogue could be showing?

Thanks

Report · Mar 02, 2016

That message indicates the field are set to read only. JavaScript can still perform the action described and one can still Export Form Data and Import Form Data using Acrobat.

Report · Mar 02, 2016

Hi,

Would like to know whether the form fields are locked or not.If they are locked ,changes cannot be made.

Regards,

Yatharth

Report · Mar 02, 2016

Locking fields prevents accidental movement of the fields while editing. This is different from making the field readonly.

Locking a field and having a readonly field does not prevent the exporting and importing of the field data to and from an FDF/XFDF file.