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GoodGreg42
Participant
February 7, 2019
Question

Govt created fillable form,

  • February 7, 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 2115 views

When I save, close and re-open, some of my data has disappeared. Help

This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

rayek.elfin
rayek.elfin
Legend
February 11, 2019

Just like Bevi Chagnon, I opened the link in Firefox, which displayed a placeholder page that this PDF could not be viewed correctly in Firefox itself. An option presented itself to download or open the PDF in a PDF viewer, and I opened it in PDF Exchange Editor.

Filled out all the information, added an item, and saved. Opened, and all the information was retained. The only issue I encountered was that PDF Exchange Editor does not support digital signing of dynamic XFA forms. But other than that, it worked fine.

Nothing seems wrong with the PDF document itself.

T
Test Screen Name
Legend
February 8, 2019

Chrome will not work. Display the file (which might just show a message), then download it, and then open it in Acrobat.

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
Legend
February 8, 2019

@rowlf13, I was able to download the file in your link above, save it, fill it in, save it again, and re-open it. It retained all of my data.

Everything worked as it should.

To download it,

  • I clicked your link.
  • It opened a temporary holding page in my browser.
  • From the top bar of my browser (FireFox in this case) I selected the icon to save/download.
  • I chose to save it to my desktop.
  • Then I opened it in Acrobat
|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
rwolf13
rwolf13
Participant
February 7, 2019

Hello!  I think I'm having the same issue.  I found this thread: Can't save data placed in form fields  that addresses the problem for Acrobat Reader, but I'm using Acrobat Pro.  In case it's helpful for those trying to help us solve it, here's a more detailed description of my flavor of the problem: 

I am using Acrobat Pro DC, and the form I am filling is a government form.  It has security settings that allow it to be filled in the pre-defined fields and signed with a digital signature identity. When I fill out any fields then save, the fields are not preserved when I re-open the document.  Specifically, when I fill out a field involving a money value (it is formatted as such; it is blank initially then when you type in a number it automatically formats it as $###,###.## and replicates it in another field) then save the document, when I re-open it displays $0.00.  This happens regardless of whether I digitally sign the document before saving, or saving-as. Some of the other fields *do* save properly when I fill them out.

For Acrobat Reader, it was suggested to try doing a Reader extended PDF save.  If I try testing save-as-other --> Reader extended PDF, I get the message that "the form is interactive and has special features" or that "this document already has enabled usage rights"

    G
    GoodGreg42Author
    Participant
    February 8, 2019

    This is exactly my problem in a much better and more understandable form.

    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Legend
    February 8, 2019

    That form was created by LiveCycle Designer, so it's commonly called an XFA form. Further, it's a dynamic XFA form, as opposed to static. I do see the same thing you describe, and it's pretty clear that the form is simply not set up correctly, so it's not a problem with Acrobat or Reader. Note that very few non-Adobe PDF viewers (and some Adobe ones) cannot correctly handle dynamic XFA forms. This includes virtually all browsers and mobile PDF viewers. Adobe Acrobat and Reader on Windows/Mac are really the only software that should be used for dynamic XFA forms.


    George_Johnson​ is correct about XFA forms: although they have the PDF file extension, they are different from other PDF forms.

    But even though it's an XFA form, it should still allow users to fill in the date and save it with the data in tact. @rwolf13 describes the problem well in his post above.

    Suggestions:

    1. Don't open the form in a browser. This can kill much of the the form's functionality, especially accessibility. Instead, download it to your computer, open it in Reader or Acrobat, fill in the data, and save it to your computer.
    2. You might have a corrupted form file. Redownload and save it to your computer.
    3. Ensure that your Reader / Acrobat software is up-to-date.
    |    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
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