to do the impossible

[JennyAnnRowe-ou]

I know Adobe Reader tells us that we cannot save information typed into a form, but I want to do that anyway. You guys are smart, so I am betting you know a clever way to circumvent this "no saving" obstacle.  BTW, my end users are public school teachers, so they will only be using the free Adobe Reader versions to open and complete the forms I am making for them.

Thanks and every hopeful,

Jenny

[Niall_O_Donovan · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Here is a summary of deployment options, ranging from users with Acrobat to users with Reader.

The main issue when the target users have Reader is whether to "Reader Enable" the form and how to "Reader Enable" the form.

There are two choices:

1. Reader Enable the form using Acrobat; or
2. Reader Enable the form using LiveCycle Reader Extensions ES.

In Acrobat Standard (V9) or Acrobat Professional (<= V8) you can Reader Enable the form; however there is a licence restriction to 500 uses / users of that form. Check out the Adobe website or the EULA for full details. See the screenshot in the attached PDF.

If you have the Enterprise Suite then with LiveCycle Reader Extensions ES you can also apply reader rights; however this is more expensive.

In short, when you reader enable a form, some features within Reader are unlocked for that form, such as the ability to save data. But other functionality is turned off.

Hope that helps,

Niall

[JennyAnnRowe-ou]

Well, yes, that helped a lot.You gave me the low-down, "enabling for dummies" version, which is just what I need. The attachement is particularly informative.

Thanks for taking the time to explain that to me.

Regards,

Jenny

[all_alone]

I have Live Cycle DDesigner ES 8.2 - but I can't find where

you can add the enabling feature.  Do I not have Extensions?

How do I do it and where can the menu items be found?

Thanks for any help.

[JennyAnnRowe-ou]

Hi All Alone (that's so sad...)

I am using Acrobat Pro, not Designer ES, and I am not sure how those correlate.  I will tell you, however, that in Acrobat, you will find the Enabling feature under the Advanced menu item (top menu). You want the "Extend Features in Adobe Reader." After you click, save, and therefore extend, your form fillers will be able to save their completed form.

Hope this helps!

~Jennifer

[all_alone]

Thanks for your solution.

I feel like such an idiot - I dragged the pdf form into LiveCycle and saved it, and now when I drag it into Acrobat Pro - I can't edit it!

[JennyAnnRowe-ou]

I hear ya. I frequently feel like an idiot when building forms, especially when it comes to dynamic tables.  So, did you get your issue worked out? Hope so.

[Jono_Moore]

Acrobat and LiveCycle PDFs are two different things.

You can place Acrobat PDFs in LiveCycle for use as background artwork or import them for re-editing.

You can not edit LiveCycle PDFs in Acrobat.

[all_alone]

Aggghhhhhh - time wasted!!!! Thanks, I was beginning to realize it was a dead end.

[RDL2012]

As of 1st January 2023 I Too have this issue, I Understand that support for various versions of Acrobat have been terminated. I see your query is back in 2009

I have Acrobat v9 Professional extended edition and now find it is useless as I can no longer Enable Extended forms for Acrobat Reader (in all its guises) I find it Draconian that I must now pay over $400 a year ad infinitum to do the same as my existing software could do for the initial investment which was not cheap.

I use 1 form which is filled in & signed by 40 people , 6 times a year.

This is yet another example of being held to ransom for no real purpose other than to create a larger revenue stream.   Very PO