Embedding a completed fillable PDF form as a PDF attachment to an email

[charmcd]

Is it possible to embed a completed fillable PDF form as a PDF attachment to an email? Those submitting the PDF may only have Adobe Reader. I have created a form, originally with Acrobat 9.0 Pro, then opened it in LiveCycle Designer, and added a submit button with the embed PDF option. It works fine for me, but not for anyone else who has tested it for me. Possibly because they don't have LiveCycle themselves? I have read through some older forums on this issue and am rather confused as to whether it's even doable for retrieving info from the general public. I am a newbie to fillable forms and LiveCycle, sorry. I have a client that really wants a form submitted in this manner and I'm not sure what to tell them. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you very much.

[Hodmi · Accepted solution]

First, you really have the wrong forum.  PDF Generator is the server side product that converts native files (Word, Excel, AutoCAD) into PDFs.  You probably want the LiveCycle Designer forum.

Second, If you have saved the file from LiveCycle Designer as a PDF (as opposed to an XDP) then others will be able to open it as long as they have the free Reader.  To submit the data however, you will need to Reader Extend the form.

Reader Extensions will allow users with the free Reader to do things that they would normally require the full Acrobat product to do.

You can apply Reader Extensions either using Acrobat (open your completed PDF and add them) or with the server product LiveCycle Reader Extensions ES.  The main difference is the license (I think Adobe restricts the Acrobat one to 500 users of the form).  The server side product also has some extensions that are not available with Acrobat.

[charmcd]

Thank you Hodmi,

Sorry, you are right. Guess I am on the wrong forum. But thanks for answering me.

I had just found some info about it being necessary to have the server extensions installed in order for it to work with your average Acrobat Reader user. But I did not know about the option of applying reader extensions to the form in Acrobat. That may be all my client needs for the short-term. I am going to see if I can figure that out and get it to work. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again for the information.

[charmcd]

Thank you again, the Acrobat Extentions worked beautifully.

I opened my fillable form in Acrobat 9.0 (the form I'd modified in LiveCycle by adding the 'submit as PDF' button), just went to Advanced > Extend Features in Acrobat Reader  and added them, and then uploaded my form to the web. Now the data can be saved to the form filler's computer, which wasn't possible before. And when they click the submit button, they get a pop-up window asking if they use a computer-based email program or a webmail program. In testing so far, those choosing computer-based (like Outlook) are automatically getting an email message box addressed to the proper email address and with the filled form already attached as a PDF. They just have to hit the send button. Working like a charm so far. If they choose the web-based mail option, the pop-up window explains that they must then save the form on their computer and manually attach it to an email in their webmail program. This message even includes the email address they need to send the attachment to.

I haven't come across anything yet that says the number of submissions will be limited for this particular form using the Acrobat Extensions, so I hope that is not the case. Perhaps only time will tell. If you know anything more details about that potential limitation I would very much appreciate you're letting me know.

Again many thanks for pointing me in the right direction!