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Save PDF file with all data typed into form by using Adobe Reader! HELP!

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Former Community Member
Hello,



This is my first time here and I have a little problem. I designed the form in the Adobe LiveCycle Designer 7.0 and saving it as dynamic PDF. All I want is to fill it out, save a copy of that in hard drive and then email it as a attach file. I don't want any XML data file or any thing else, I want real completed document in PDF. That's all!



We can save a copy of completed document in Adobe Acrobat Pro but how we can save it in Adobe Reader?



My form is some thing like this (link below), every time you open it in Adobe Reader, it will tell you that "You cannot save data typed into this form." and let you print it.



Example: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/grants/sf269.pdf



But at this link



http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf



you can cancomplete this form and save a copy of it into your hard drive with all data typed for ever. Yes by using Adobe Reader! But I have a no idea HOW?



Does anybody have any suggestion? Please any help solving these problems would be most appreciated.



Thanks again,

Daniel
64 Replies

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Level 1

Thank you, finally someone woke up and smelled the roses.  You shove out $500 to buy something that can't do somthing simple as adjusting the size of an image, or allow you to save data in a form.  As everyone knows you can print the form to PDF and it will save the copy, WHY NOT MAKE IT EASY FOR THE USER TO BE ABLE TO DO THE SAME WITHOUT GOING AN EXTRA STEP?????  I'm fed up with the limitations that Acrobat puts on features that should be included.  It's horrible business tactic to make you buy something else.

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Level 1

It's really sad to see the stance Adobe has with their products.  Someone asked a simple question and the response from Adobe was to go to a page to buy something that was total overkill for what they needed.  Adobe doesn't staff these forums with customer support, they staff them with salesmen.

Shameful.

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Level 1

This product allows you to save restricted Acrobat forms locally without the need to buy Adobe X Pro:

PDF Xchange Viewer from Tracker Software (just google it).

(I have no relation with this company - but the software is recommended on Gizmos Techsupportalert site, a reliable site. Have not done more than an initial test myself. Just make sure you say NO to the Ask toolbar on installation, and ensure you check other installation options carefully if you don't want it to be your default reader etc.).

Best wishes

Mouse1111x

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Former Community Member
I agree with "disgruntled customer". Catherine, that link is not useful - I am more confused than ever, but I think I understand that LiveCycle Reader Extensions is a purchased product (never did find out how much) and I doubt that I'm going to get my 150 tax preparation clients to buy it in order to fill out my organizers electronically. Most of them don't even know how their free Reader works, much less what it takes to print anything to PDF, even though there are free competitors to Adobe which will let them do so.



I was pretty excited about LiveCycle in my Pro version, until I found this out.



Disappointed CPA

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Level 7
Do you do taxes for free?



Do you pay for tax software or do the programers give it to you for free?



Well if you answered yes to any of the above, Adobe is making its living by creating software that can create forms, but it is not for free and the more features you want the more it will cost you.



I assume you do not use Turbo Tax as your software, so you do pay more than $29.95 so you can have the advanced features to handle the more complex returns.

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Level 1

You seriously miss the point. The issue is clarity. I got Pro 9 after reading of Adobe's own stuff saying it would let Reader users use the forms. After a week of frustration, I dug deeper and discovered you had to have Pro Extended to let Reader users use and SAVe the file. My complaint is to ask why Adobe is so obtuse with what's needed. Fine, I bought Pro Extended, they want to charge what they charge, fine. But make it clear that you need a specific version in the first place.

Now I have X and cannot figure out how to extend to Reader users, and again the literature at least implies nothing else is needed for functionality of Pro Extended. Am I wrong? Did Adboe's lack of clarity once again put me in a loop where one more time I have to buy some toher thing to do what I need to do? It sure looks that way. Who writes your literature anyway?

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Level 7
You can always try to Word and use Word's form fields to make your organizer.

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Level 7
This does assume your users do want to use their computer this way.



You are aware that there is a big security problem with any sensative. data being kept on a system with a WiFi and music sharing software, especially when this software is configured to also share data files or documents. Many of the sites warning of this are being censored because there is just so much personal data for so many persons being disclosed. Up to 27,000 returns at one time.

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Level 1

Just to add an updated response to this thread:

in Acrobat Pro v9 go to the menu and select Advanced > Extend Features in Adobe Reader...

In Acrobat Standard v9 go to the menu and select Advanced > Extend Forms Fill-in & Save in Adobe Reader...

You can now save the form with your data.

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Former Community Member

Many thanks to Dave Hoder.

In Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional for Mac, I found the command was named differently:

Advanced: Enable Usage Rights in Acrobat Reader

Save your PDF form with that option enabled, and then your users should be able to save their edits. Hope that helps.

Note: They will be saving their edits to the same PDF, not to a copy, so if they need to fill out the same form twice, or want to keep a backup, they need to use Save As.

For the tax preparer concerned about her customers: Even with the additional Adobe software, it sounded like your tax prep clients wouldn't have had to buy the software -- just you, so you could modify your docs so that your end-users could save the filled forms (and do more, I guess). However, I still agree with you -- selling Acrobat so that people can make PDF forms but then limiting it so you can't make useful PDF forms is chintzy. Adobe clearly doesn't need to stoop to such levels to make money. They should just empower the software to make good docs easily. However, this thread started three years ago; perhaps what I'm seeing in the "Enable Usage Rights" command is Adobe's agreement with us.

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Level 1

Thanks Dave.  This worked as you described in version 9.   Is seems that the form users must have version 8 or higher of Reader to save the data in the files, but I guess that's reasonable.

Best Wishes,

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Former Community Member

Yes, this way you don't even need Adobe live cycle! why would people recommend to use live cycle in order to simply save data type?? Dave is the man to solve this.

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Level 1

I will be out of the office starting 12/06/2010 and will not return until

12/07/2010.

If you need immediate assistance please contact Evelyn Berry, Ext. 1060.

I will respond to your email upon my return.

Thank you.

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Level 1

I've read through this entire thread, but nothing seems to apply to

Acrobat X Pro and LiveCycle Designer ES2. There isn't an Advanced menu option in either product, thus no "Enable Usage Rights in Acrobat Reader" option either. Did it move? If so, to where?

I found that if I choose Save As.. in X Pro there's an option "Reader Extended PDF" with 3 choices, but none are available.

I'm looking for what a number of others were looking for:  I've created a form I want to send via email, have someone complete, save, and re-attach to an email message, which will come back to me. Nothing fancy at all.

Can anyone help? All the online tutorials are for earlier versions of Acrobat Pro. I must be on the bleeding edge.

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Level 2

For a PDF to be filled and the data to be saved, we have 2 options.

1 ) Reader extend the PDF using Reader extension feature in Adobe LC

2 ) Use Acrobat Pro to edit is and save.

In your case . I think u have to make the file reader extended.

Other wise make sure ur user is opening with Acrobat Pro for editing and saving.

thanks

ReV

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Level 1

Thanks ReV. Since I cannot expect all recipients of this form to have Acrobat vs. Acrobat Reader, I need to use the extend to Reader feature/command. But since I cannot find that option, or what I have found is not allowed, per my post, in X Pro, I'm stuck. I cannot find any X Pro information such as tutorials, help text, posts, etc. Even Adobe hasn't updated it's library of how to videos for X Pro. Very frustrating!

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Level 1

Almost 5 years talking about the same problem, jeeez!

I’m within the same problem scope:

Using Acrobat Standard 7 and Livecycle Designer 7 ES2 to create a form which the user can fill in, save as a PDF complete with their details and email back to me.

Surely we can move away from the print out and fax option of the 90’s!?

For this version of Livecycle ES2 (as Audition_Denver has alluded to above), there seems to be no “ADVANCED” menu option in LS2 therefore removing the possibility of “enabling usage rights”.

In this case I only have one form to make, can someone suggest a solution? Maybe an alternative download to the READER EXTENSION file?

Colin (Toronto)

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Level 1

Many thanks CDesign2, that worked! I was a little leery when I saw the article seemed to be for Acrobat 8, but the menu choice was there and sub-choices were available. They must have been grayed out before because I was still in Edit mode.

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Level 1

Can someone from Adobe help? How is this handled in your latest releases, X Pro and Lifecycle ES2?

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Level 1

Can you explain further Audition Denver? I’ve read the link but still can’t achieve the desired. I’m trying to open the form I’ve created using Livecycle Designer ES2 in Acrobat Standard 7.0 (which I can’t do…it produces an error message). Did you open the form in a more recent version of Acrobat? Or did you open it in Adobe Reader? I.e. where did you find this menu option?

Thanks

Colin