Prepare form not working?

[stevek62184211]

I want to make a fillable form.  I started Prepare form.  I selected the word doc form.  But when I clicked Start.  Nothing happened.  What seems to be my problem?

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hi Stevek,

Please try once to repair installation or check for the updates.

Launch the application and go to Help > Repair Installation or Check for updates.

Check if that helps.

Make sure that you are using the latest version available for the application.

Refer this help document Release Notes | Adobe Acrobat, Reader for more details on updates.

Could you please confirm the exact version of the application currently installed on the machine?

Take help of the steps provided here Identify the product and its version for Acrobat and Reader DC.

Also, check if it is an issue with a particular PDF or with all?

We will be waiting for your response.

Let us know you if you need any help.

Regards,

Meenakshi

[stevek62184211]

I have done the repair installation.  But still it is still not working.

I have updated to version 2019.008.20071

But i am still having the same problem.  I can see that the form has been found.  But after clicking the Start icon, nothing happens.

[BhavnaNegi]

Steve

Do you see any progress bar when you click on "Start icon"?

After clicking "Start" are you in the Prepare Form app Edit mode?

If yes, Do you see any form fields detected in the field pane?

Please note, if the word file has no field annot for detection - you would see no form fields in form edit mode and it will be

Please share the word file that you are experiencing issue with.

You can share a file using Adobe Document Cloud  - https://forums.adobe.com/docs/DOC-7161

[stevek62184211]

When I clicked the Start button, the button blinked, but nothing else happened.  NO progress bar or any indication that something is going on,

Here is the link to the word doc form:

https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/f2423f52-c225-4c71-b74f-f5490df11141

[BhavnaNegi]

Steve

I tested on Win10 with latest v.2019.008.20071 and I see no issues with the word file.

I see that the form fields were detected fine through Prepare Form app.

You can check the video I made - Adobe Document Cloud

[stevek62184211]

HI,

If the document is fine, something is wrong with my installed application.  What could that be?

By the way, the video link only showed a screen shot.  Am I missing something?

Thank you.

[BhavnaNegi]

I created video as .swf file. It will show as screenshot and not as a video in browser.

You need to download it to view.

If repair installation has not worked, Try a fresh installation ( Machine restart may be required)

You can also reach your IT team.

[hannahh626]

Hi,

Have you solved this issue? I now have the same issue. Hope you can give me some advice.

Thanks.

[AWatkins30 · Accepted solution]

I am currently having this same issue and have followed the recommended steps in this thread with no success. Is there an update on how to resolve the issue? Thank you.

SOLVED: You have to convert the Word file into a PDF file first. Save it and then upload the PDF to be converted into a fillable form. 

[Amal.]

Hi there, 

Thanks for sharing the observation. We are glad to hear that the issue got fixed.

Feel free to contact us for any further assistance required in the future.

Regards

Amal

[John27145187uvj4]

This isn't fixed.  Simply saving an InDesign file and "Preparing Form" is the usual process in Acrobat Pro.  Now I get this "No new form field annotations were detected" gibberish.  Latest version, updated and repaired.  Not fixed.

[Test Screen Name]

" Simply saving an InDesign file and "Preparing Form" is the usual process in Acrobat Pro. "

Really? Why not make the form in InDesign (or the start of the form)?

[superscah]

The issue is still there in Acrobat today, in 2023 -- you have not fixed it. I know my company constantly runs updates of Adobe so if we are still running into problems making forms, Adobe clearly does not care about this feature and it is sad since this feature is one of the main reasons to use Acrobat. It's time for another software company that feels up to it, to provide something better since Adobe will not listen to its subscribers.

[Amal.]

Hi @superscah 

What is the version of the Acrobat DC you are using? To check the version go to Help > About Acrobat and make sure you have the recent version 23.01.2006x  installed. Go to Help > Check for updates and reboot the computer once.

Also try to repair the installation from the help menu (Win Only) and see if that works.

Please try to reset the Acrobat preferences as described here https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/how-to-reset-acrobat-preference-settings-to-defau...

You may also try to create a new test user profile with full admin rights in Win or enable the root account in MAC and try using the application there and check.


If it still doesn't work, please remove the application using the Acrobat cleaner tool https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/cleaner.html  , reboot the computer once and reinstall the application using the direct link https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/acrobat-dc-downloads.html

Regards
Amal

[superscah]

Thank you for your response but we always use the continuously updating version so we are always using the most recent version. We are not a small company, we have tens of thousands of employees. The issue I don't think is "fixed" is that creating forms is a drag now.  As someone who uses the "prepare a form" tool and had used the form creation tool several years ago (before Creative Cloud), when it was much more helpful, I am always amazed that the software never recognizes fields in the Word doc when it is converted to pdf and always gives the error message a previous reviewer wrote "No new form field annotations were detected" so then i have to recreate everything again manually and then keep a record of all the settings. You might not know this but when the feature first appeared in Acrobat, it was more intuitive with existing docs and did things like assumed one wanted fields in some logical places where you had fields for autotext in Word, and in some other places too. In spite of what you believe, Acrobat used to make preparing forms much quicker and easier than it is now. I was amazed when I set out to create a form in the new software and found I had to manually go through and find every place to insert form fields and then manually set all the settings that Adobe used to do automatically. Say it's fixed but I disagree, it was a useful tool before, now not so much. Just one more Acrobat feature that used to be a good time saver, users were happy to learn about and use, and was inexplicably monkeyed with to make more work for us.