About Glenn Fraller Expertise Even though I am donating my time to AllEperts.com and I am an Expert, this does NOT mean I know ALL the answers to ALL questions! It seems to me today, people seem to want too much from certain people. I am here because I want to help lead people in a direction I would go. My expertise is limited to Adobe Acrobat 5 (PC) and Acrobat 7 Professional (MAC). If you have version 8 (PC) or (MAC) I, now I am speaking for me only, I would read the help file(s) and research on the Internet every where until I found and understood the solution to my challenge.
Experience Every business day I use Enfocus Pitstop, a plug-in for Adobe Acrobat 5 (PC) and Professional 7 (MAC). Without it, there isn't that much that can be done without the hassel of opening the PDF within Adobe Illustrator. Then there are font issues! Education/Credentials Degreed in Industrial Education and Technology, School of Graphic Communications and work in the prepress field everyday as a toubleshooter.
Question QUESTION: Why are some PDF forms capable of being filled and saved in reader & some are not? I have designed many forms with designer v.7. When a user reads the form with Adobe reader v 8 they cannot save the form with its data. I recently received a form that can be filled & saved with the filled data. The banner across the top of the form says the form can be saved with data. The form I created has a banner saying the form CANNOT be saved with data - how come? I see no difference it the two form properties.
Maybe a better question. How can I create & convert existing PDF forms (if possible) into forms that can be saved with the inputted data.
Thank you in advance. As you can see I work for the Navy & they have a habit of assigning jobs without considering giving any thought to training one.
Thank you,
A.D. Zima
ANSWER: Good Morning Andrew,
Adobe Acrobat series has many complex facets. You are in the midst of one of them: Accessibility. Since I do not have the extreme expertise to explain these areas, at least I know where to lead people for them to be able to draw information. Even though the versions talked about are not always the versions we are using, general ideas may be derived and come to your aid in learning. The link below is a page within Adobe's knowledge base (very large) that may help you.
Read and learn and perhaps the answer(s) you are seeking lies within these "few" pages. Plus there may be other software (plug-ins) that need to purchased to achieve what you seek.
Glenn
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QUESTION: I may not have asked the right question.
What I need to do is create a PDF form. Have a user open the form in Adobe Reader, fill out the form & save the form & data locally. Now, when I save the form after filling it, all I save is the form without the data.
Now, when I create a form with Acrobat ver 7 or 8, the user can open the fill the form but NOT save the form with the inputted data local on his/her PC.
One of my users sent me a form, I do not know who created it, that can be opned with adobe reader ver 8, the user can fill out the form & then save the form with its data on the local PC.
How is this done?
I've looked at the Accessibility but see no relivance.
Thanks for any help.
A.D. Zima
Answer OK A.D. Zima, Here's The Scoop!
Acrobat only allows "Enable for Commenting and Analysis in Adobe Reader" not filling form fields. In order to "Extend User Rights in Reader" get your checkbook out!. . . below . . . as I said earlier Adobe knows what they are doing and is very complex and may require purchase of additional software. Namely Adobe LiveCycle Reader Extensions ES.
If you want to create a PDF document that gives Adobe Reader (free) users some of the tools and features that are normally available only in Acrobat Standard or Acrobat Professional (expensive), get your checkbook out, because you need to include additional usage rights. These additional usage rights can give users the necessary tools to fill in forms and submit them online or offline, to participate in email and web-based reviews, to add comments, and to sign documents using Adobe Reader. All these rights are document specific and not global. To add these additional usage rights, you use a server (hardware very expensive!) extension. For more information on additional usage rights and system requirements, see the Adobe website at:
