submitting adobe PDF online - did this idea die?

[klubjunky]

I'm confused about this.

And I'm not finding any way to do this reliably..

can somebody point me in the right direction?

What do I have to 'buy', 'do' or 'configure' to allow a person to fill out a PDF form on my website and have it emailed to me..

OR if that isn't possible.. have a PDF form emailed to the person requesting it..

Then THEY fill out the form in their email application/browser and THEN it sends to us (the completed form)

NOT empty forms.

NOT clickable 'submit' buttons that don't work.

A working solution to submitting PDF forms online.

ANYONE?

Oh one last thing, it would be great if the PDF forms if done ONLINE were actually secure - and not downloadable...

In some cases a lot of work went into creating the forms, so we don't like them being taken.

THanks

[gkaiseril]

To submit a form attached to an email from a web browser has a number of prerequisites.

1. The user needs to be using a web browser that can process PDF forms. Many web browsers how have their own "better" PDF viewer because is ti smaller and faster then Adobe Reader. Unfortunately they either do not properly process PDF forms or do not recognize PDF forms. Google Chorome and FireFox do not always process all PDFs. Microsoft now has Microsoft View which does not recognize form fields.

2. User must have a compatible email client.

3. Mobile devices have limited or no PDF form support.

4. The form needs to submit an FDF or XFDF file to a web page with custom scripting to process the passed file.

[klubjunky]

So yes then.. It died.

On Sat, Feb 27, 2016 at 12:20 PM, gkaiseril <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

[George_Johnson]

Submitting by email never has been and probably never will be reliable. Acrobat and Reader have been able to submit to a web server since forms were introduced with Acrobat 3 and still can. It's possible to set up the form to submit the entire PDF to a web server which can then do the job of emailing, but this requires programming the server to handle this. Creating a reliable system using this approach is possible, but your users will need to be sufficiently motivated (e.g., because it's part of their job) and informed. If it needs to work for the general public, consider using something other than a PDF form.

A PDF form must be downloaded in order to be viewed in whatever PDF viewer is being used, whether it's displayed in the browser or not.

[klubjunky]

I'm more interested in the PDF served on a website solution (reliable and

cross browser)

Adobe doesn't seem to want to tell me how much it will be online.

Vague pricing structures don't interest me.

$30/seat +??

On Sat, Feb 27, 2016 at 6:46 PM, George_Johnson <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

[try67]

I don't believe Adobe provides such a service... You can set it up yourself, if you have a server where you can host a simple PHP file, though.

[klubjunky]

They do. It's called Esign and Document Cloud (though I am not sure what

the Document Cloud offering is - there is only vague descriptions and no

pricing)

The Esign services however allow for forms and signatures and has been

around for a while - but not offered to regular folk until a year ago

roughly i think (regular being, smaller business)

$30/seat is the pricetag i'm looking at online, but i haven't had my

integration and setup talk yet with an adobe rep.

that $30 is likely a yearly in advance /month price (meaning it is actually

$360/year (not $30 /month) and they don't offer monthly, only a paid

upfront yearly price.

I hate this as it doesn't give you a chance to TRY b4 you buy with services

like this.

anyway..

Adobe has another option as well, but i've only just learned of it..

something to do with Adobe Experience, their integrated web and marketing..

blah blah blah..

The idea for regular people to do it has died.

But they still seem to have offerings (if you can pay for it)

[try67]

Esign? Do you mean EchoSign? If so, that's not exactly what that is. It's more of a way of implementing and tracking digital signatures.

And the Adobe Cloud is just a cloud-based storage space. It's not a service for collecting form data, AFAIK.

[klubjunky]

no i mean esign

https://acrobat.adobe.com/ca/en/documents/esignatures.html?promoid=12B9F1FP

[klubjunky]

https://acrobat.adobe.com/ca/en/documents/esignatures.html

[gkaiseril]

Those services also provide a server (hardware), programs (software), record keeping and maintenance. The recording keeping is mandated by various countrys' laws and international treaty to show the security and integrity of the files stored on the servers.

These services have nothing to do with gathering form data for additional processing like emailing to you.

See Processing Acrobat Form Data: As Easy As HTML for more information and links to additional information. To implement this you will need to provide a web site that allows you to add coded pages and store data. These sites are not provided by Adobe and have never been provided by Adobe. You may need to pay the ISP a premium for such a site over and above the base rent for the site. You may also find an ISP that will let you install and maintain your own server with the needed web server software.