Forms Don't Show Up

[MarcySB]

I created a form in Acrobat Pro XI. Since Acrobat XI uses FormsCentral, I saved it as a pdf. It works as an interactive fillable form in Acrobat XI where it was created.

When I open it in Acrobat Reader DC, I get this message:

I know a similar question was posted in February. I've read through the entire thread - it turned out she was not actually using Acrobat - something else was opening the form. I checked and I am using Acrobat - here is a screen shot:

I checked and it is a reader enabled form. Was there something else I should have done in Acrobat XI FormsCentral to be sure this will work? I know this Forms Creator is no longer supported in terms of collecting data, but I thought it would work to create the forms.

Thanks.

[George_Johnson]

There are a number of reasons that message can appear, many of which are difficult to diagnose, especially without being able to examine the file. A simple reason is the date/time on the machine that generated the PDF is wrong and set to some time in the future. An easy fix if the form doesn't need to be Reader-enabled is to remove the usage rights by selecting: File > Save a Copy

in Acrobat. Note that this message can also appear when the file gets corrupted or is somehow invalid. This is what's difficult to diagnose, but with Acrobat Pro you may get some clues using Preflight, which can report on syntax problems. Problems with fonts is another potential source.

[MarcySB]

Unfortunately, this does need to be reader enabled. Having it as a fillable interactive form is the entire reason I'm creating it. I checked the date and time of the computer I used to create it and it is correct. Fonts I'm not sure how to check. I changed the default Arial to Times Roman inside FormsCentral, so I assume that would be OK.

Is there any reason Acrobat Reader DC would not see a form created in FormsCentral as fillable? Could that sort of incompatibility be the issue? I know I'm using an app that is no longer supported, but I thought it was still supposed to work at least to create the form, which is all I need to do.

How do I use Preflight in FormsCentral? Or should I open the form in Acrobat Pro XI and use it there?

Thanks.

[George_Johnson]

Preflight is a feature of Acrobat. Reader doesn't see the form because there's something wrong with the file. I can't say more without looking at it. Here's something you can try though:

1. After you export from FormsCentral to PDF, open the file in Acrobat and select: File > Save a Copy

to save it to a new file.

2. Open this new file in Acrobat (it doesn't open automatically) and confirm that it works OK. Also, test this new file in Reader to see what happens with it.

3. If it works OK in Acrobat and Reader, you can then Reader-enable the form in Acrobat: File > Save as Other > Reader Extended PDF > Enable More Tools

Note that users with Reader 11 and DC are able to fill-in and save non-enabled forms. So it's really only necessary to Reader-enable if some of your users have older versions (pre-11).

[MarcySB]

I tried all of this and it still did not work. I even created a brand new form in FormsCentral, just in case the first one was corrupt as you thought it might be, and it did not work either. I tested each form as the original saved as a pdf, and a Saved As copy.

Then I created a simple form in Word and had Acrobat Pro XI convert it. That worked! It is more work up front, but at least I got a form that can be completed using Acrobat Reader!

It is looking to me like FormsCentral is just not the way to go, for whatever reason. I am doing this on a work computer so I have no control over what is on it. I could ask for it to be reinstalled, but am not sure for just a few forms that it is worth the effort.

Thanks for all of your suggestions.

[try67 · Accepted solution]

FormsCentral is basically dead. The web-site part of it is not working anymore and all that remains is its limited desktop app that can be used to create some simple PDF forms from scratch, but a much better way is to use Acrobat to add form fields to a PDF file that you generate from another application, like Word or InDesign (don't use the latter's ability to add form fields, either. It's buggy as well).