Email Submit button works in Acrobat but not Reader

[SusanLeah]

I have a form with an email submit button.  When those who have Adobe Reader click on the Submit button, nothing happens.  For the users with Acrobat, the submit button works as designed. The users all have the latest version of Reader, Java and Flash.  When the Acrobat users click the button a box appears asking them to select Desktop or Internet email.  Once they make a selection, the form is sent.  When the Reader users click the button nothing happens.  I'm sure there must be a setting somewhere that I need to adjust.  Can you help me?

[djaknow]

The form must be rights-enabled for the email submit button to work in Reader. To the best of my knowledge you would need Reader Extensions software to enable email submit through Reader.

[SusanLeah]

We used this same functionality earlier in the year and did not have any problems with Reader users submitting forms.  Is this something that has changed with an update to 9.1?

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi,

I believe that the issue may be how the email submit button is set up. In both cases if we consider that the form is not Reader Enabled:

1. If the email submit button is set to return a PDF version of the completed form, it will fail because the user with Reader cannot save the PDF (with the inputted data) to return it by email;
2. However if the email submit button is set up to return the data as an XML file, then it should work. Because the user with Reader is not saving the PDF; the form is just attaching the XML data to an email.

Hope that works for you,

Niall

[SusanLeah]

That is so strange, and doesn't make sense with what we are seeing. We have used this in the past, with folks who only had Reader, and they were able to submit without any issues. I have a personal laptop, which only has Reader, and I was able to submit the current form successfully.

Any other ideas?

Thanks!

Susan

SAVE PAPER - THINK BEFORE YOU PRINT

Please support NASCAR’s commitment to waste reduction and 100% office paper recycling.

[SusanLeah]

Sorry... another tidbit of info

When I click Submit on a computer that has Reader, I get the following message:

Please Note: This form contains an email submit button. Click this button will email a data file containing data you type into this form. However, the form itself will not be sent. Remember, you cannot save a completed copy of this form with Adobe Reader 9.

Thanks!

Susan

SAVE PAPER - THINK BEFORE YOU PRINT

Please support NASCAR’s commitment to waste reduction and 100% office paper recycling.

[djaknow]

This message confirms what Niall posted earlier. The data can be sent (XML only) but not the PDF (the form itself). The error also reiterates that the form cannot be saved. Does your personal laptop have a copy of Acrobat on it? If you have Acrobat and Reader installed on the same machine, it's been my experience that even if you choose to open a form with Reader, the form will still open in Acrobat.

[SusanLeah]

No my laptop has only Reader.

So is there a place in the form, as we are creating it, that we have to specify where the data is supposed to go when the Submit button is clicked, by someone who had Reader?

Thanks!

Susan

SAVE PAPER - THINK BEFORE YOU PRINT

Please support NASCAR’s commitment to waste reduction and 100% office paper recycling.

[djaknow]

No, submittal by Reader is controlled by whether or not the form itself has been reader extended and the method of submittal. If you're doing a submit as XML, then the unextended form will work the same in both Acrobat and Reader. If you're doing a submit as PDF on an unextended form, Acrobat works fine (because the form can be saved) and Reader throws the error you posted earlier.

[SusanLeah]

Sorry.. this confused me a little. I'm not sure what you mean by reader extended form. We have this form set to submit pdf. The majority of our employees have Reader only, so does that mean we have to have it set to submit by XML in order for it to work.

When I tried to submit via Reader I got that message I had sent a few minutes ago, indicating that only the data would be sent. Are you saying now that is not actually the case?

Thanks!

Susan

SAVE PAPER - THINK BEFORE YOU PRINT

Please support NASCAR’s commitment to waste reduction and 100% office paper recycling.

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi,

Paul Guerett has a PDF with different examples of submit by email (http://forums.adobe.com/message/2262709#2262709).

You could set up two hidden submit by email buttons. One set up to return the completed form as a PDF and the second set up to return the completed form as an XML data file. Both of these could be set up for the same email address.

Then you would have a visible button ("Submit by Email") that would first test whether the user was using Acrobat or Reader and then access the click event of the appropriate button. I haven't tested this but is would look something like this in the click event

if (xfa.host.appType == "Reader")

{

     submitXMLbutton.execEvent("click"); // hit the submit XML button

}

else

{

     submitPDFbutton.execEvent("click"); // hit the submit PDF button

}

Attached is a summary of functionality between users with the full version of Acrobat and those with the free Reader. There are two ways to Reader Enable a form (to extend functionality to people with Reader). One is through Acrobat and the other is with the full server LC Enterprise Suite.

Hope that helps,

Niall

[djaknow]

Niall,

If you extend a form through Acrobat, does it enable submit as PDF? It's not one of the options listed and I've never tested it as we have Reader Extensions here.

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi,

If you reader enable through Acrobat, then the submit as PDF will work.

If you use a standard button, instead of an "email submit" button and then tick submit in the Object / Field tab. Then in the Submit tab select PDF from the submit as drop down list.

Once the form is enabled through Acrobat, users with Reader can return the completed PDF (without any warnings).

Niall

ps could you give me a decent screenshot of the reader enabling process using LC Reader Extensions ES????? Thanks!!!

[SusanLeah]

These are exactly the procedures we have followed in setting up the document. Still it appears that for folks with Reader the form does not submit, but the message comes up indicating that data will be submitted.

So we are back to the beginning...??

Thanks!

Susan

SAVE PAPER - THINK BEFORE YOU PRINT

Please support NASCAR’s commitment to waste reduction and 100% office paper recycling.

[djaknow]

Susan,

So you did enable the form through Acrobat? I apologize, I'm getting a bit confused.

[SusanLeah]

I am confused as well. This is made even more difficult because I am not the person who created/posted the document. It was created by our HR department. I'm just the lowly IT Tech trying to figure out why it is not working correctly

Please tell me what you mean by "enable the form through Acrobat", so I can check with them to see if they followed that part of the procedure correctly.

Thanks!

Susan

SAVE PAPER - THINK BEFORE YOU PRINT

Please support NASCAR’s commitment to waste reduction and 100% office paper recycling.

[djaknow]

Niall,

Here's the LC Reader Extension screenshot you asked for. I took the liberty of selecting our usual options, just in case they might provide some insight.

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi Susan,

I appreciate we have meandered through this, but bear with us...

Here is a screen shot of a regular button set up to return the completed form as a PDF.

Now if you deploy this form WITHOUT Reader Enabling the form, then users with Reader will see this warning:

However before you deploy the form open it in Acrobat and go to the Advanced menu (in version 9) and select "Extend features in Acrobat Reader" and save the form with an amended name. Then send this new "Reader extended" form out to the users with Reader and they will be able to return the completed PDF.

Without seeing the actual form it is difficult to work out how the submit button is set up.

Hope that helps,

Niall

[SusanLeah]

The screen shot is very helpful, thanks! How does the person who is creating this form get to that screen? Is this Reader Extension a separate application that has to be purchased/installed?

[SusanLeah]

That is helpful. I will forward this on the form creator to ensure she has completed these steps. Thanks for your patience!

[Niall_O_Donovan]

Hi,

There are two ways to Reader Enable a form:

1. Using Acrobat Standard (version 9) or Acrobat Professional (version 8 or below);
2. Using a server product from Adobe called LiveCycle Reader Extensions ES. This is part of the enterprise suite but is completely separate to LiveCycle Designer ES (which was used to create the form)

I have used Acrobat to reader enable forms. Djaknow has used the full LC Reader Extensions server product.

An updated summary of the different options is uploaded. Thanks Djaknow for the screenshot!!

Niall