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Filling text form in preview on mac creating another layer behind the field

Community Beginner ,
Sep 25, 2020 Sep 25, 2020

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I have created some PDF's with fillable text forms. When some users are attempting to fill out the form in preview on a mac they are having some wierd issuesL
- the field duplicates behind the clicked field, in another font
- when they try and start typing, the curser moves to the bottom of the paragraph and its complately unsuable. 
Has anyone seen this? How can I fix it?
PDF issue.JPG

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General troubleshooting , PDF forms

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

LEGEND , Sep 25, 2020 Sep 25, 2020

Preview should never be used for PDF forms. There are a number of very good reasons for this, but in general, it has lousy support for forms and even damages them in a number of ways when it saves. If you want a PDF to work correctly, it is best to use Adobe Reader or Acrobat.

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LEGEND ,
Sep 25, 2020 Sep 25, 2020

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Don't use Preview to fill forms. For many years it has been broken, and Apple have no interest in fixing it. Your users MUST be led to use the right software - Acrobat Reader. They also need to avoid browsers and email apps.

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LEGEND ,
Sep 25, 2020 Sep 25, 2020

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Preview should never be used for PDF forms. There are a number of very good reasons for this, but in general, it has lousy support for forms and even damages them in a number of ways when it saves. If you want a PDF to work correctly, it is best to use Adobe Reader or Acrobat.

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New Here ,
Nov 28, 2023 Nov 28, 2023

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So I use fillable pdfs daily, and these forms are filled out and returned to me by hundreds of people. I have had SO many returned to me with double vision text, in the fields they filled out... as mentioned in this stream. These are typically emailed back to me or shared. Every one of them is done through an Apple device.  Interestingly, if I am emailed the form, the fields look normal in the preview of the email. It is after I download it from my gmail to my hard drive, that upon viewing it from my download folder, it shows doubled/tripled.  I have found however that if I print it from my gmail preview, and save it as a PDF, it saves without any issues. Maybe this will help everyone else.  T

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