How to give certain form fields priority over others? (auto-filling text form fields.)

[Ryan_Oliver_02445]

Good evening, I am trying to figure out why the text fields on my document are going blank.

Here's what I

m running into:

I have a document which has text form fields, and these fields already have text written in them.

When I insert another PDF, which also has the same named form fields, (so they can auto-fill with the text in the PDF that's already filled out...)

All the form fields go blank, even the ones that previously had text in them. 

Is there a way to prevent this from happening?

I would like the information to carry onto the new PDFs I insert, from document that has the necessary information.

Thank you for your time!

[try67]

I believe the information in the original fields is what is kept and the fields in the files you are merging get overwritten by it.

[Ryan_Oliver_02445]

I have tried this, and sadly, even after i merge the empty form fields last, the original form fields are still over-written.

Actually, the opposite happens if I merge the fields with text to the empty PDF.\

[try67]

It's really not a recommended step to take, to be honest, and not a very

predictable one, as you saw...

On Wed, 5 Dec 2018 at 00:26, Ryan.Oliver 02445 <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

[Ryan_Oliver_02445]

What would be a better method to go about merging the two PDF's together?

[try67]

There is no good way of doing it if they contain the same form fields, really.

One way I thought about just now is to export the form data from the file that has the correct version, then merge the files, then import the form data back into the merged file. That way it will have the data you want....

[Joel Geraci]

Do you need the form data to remain active form fields after the merge? If not, you can flatten the documents prior to merging and then you won't have the field problem.

[Test Screen Name]

If you have this exact requirement

- two PDF files have the same form fields but different contents

- you want to make one PDF file that combines the two and has the SAME contents in each file

- you want one file to "rule" and fill in both combined copies

Then you can export the form data from your preferred PDF, combine the forms (results at this point are unpredictable), then import the form data.