PDF Forms in Preview Not working

Thanks for the double space tip. That solves the appearance problem. With the update to Lion I also find myself unable to print the fillable PDFs. I get the following message,

ERROR: invalid font

OFFENDING COMMAND: definefont

STACK:

/Font

- dictionary -

/VLUSSY+Times-Roman

Anyone have a thought on how to resolve the printing problem?

I've had this problem and I have to print the PDF to another PDF file then print.

example: print pdf (save as pdf) file name test.pdf to test1.pdf which locks all the fillable space as just text fields then print to a printer. This worked for me. Good Luck.

Well there ain't no use denyin'

There are a few problems with Lion... (nod to the Wizard of Oz)

Thanks to the person who observed that double line returns result in single readable lines

So I use pdf forms that worked fine in Snow Leopard but not in Lion, however hitting double return at the end of each line at least results in readable text on the printed form - a temporary fix until this issue is resolved.

Incidentally, I'm not having problems printing my fillable forms. I just command-P and it prints. This is with OS 10.7.1 on a MacBook, and a Canon or Epson printer. They work fine for me.

It's the end of Feb 2012, and still no solution in sight to the original problem: Multi-line fields in PDF forms in Preview just don't work, the line spacing is messed up.

Is anyone in Apple aware of this problem?

There were a bunch of messages last fall saying "send me an example", but in fact *any* form created by Acrobat containing a multi-line field shows the issue.

Using Acrobat to fill out forms doesn't work for me - I need to use Dragon Dictate, and Dictate doesn't work with Acrobat, only with Preview and Word.

Henry Kautz wrote:

It's the end of Feb 2012, and still no solution in sight to the original problem: Multi-line fields in PDF forms in Preview just don't work, the line spacing is messed up.

Is anyone in Apple aware of this problem?

There were a bunch of messages last fall saying "send me an example", but in fact *any* form created by Acrobat containing a multi-line field shows the issue.

I don't have any such form, nor do I have any means of creating one. If you could provide such a form, then I would be happy to submit a bug report.

Thanks, I have posted an example pdf file here:

http://www.henrykautz.org/example-multiline-field-bug.pdf

I created this form in Acrobat from an MS word document, but the same problem occurs regardless of the original source. The forms work fine with Acrobat and with Chrome.

You can email me at henry.kautz@gmail.com if you need more information.

This is indeed a massive problem for those using PDF forms. I had to kill Lion from all our machines and go back to Snow Leopard since working with multi-line fields just isn't possible anymore.

I have experienced the same problem. I have a number of forms that we need to fill and save. They occassionally need to be edited. Preview was working fine in this regard (although I had to print to PDF in order for Adobe Reader to be able to see and print the form field changes), but after I upgraded to Lion, I can no longer save the checkbox edits. Any checks just clear as soon as the file saves. This is more than annoying, it's costing us a lot of time.

I have this problem too. I am trying to fill in an important form, but the moment I press return when writing in the field all of the lines bunch up and become unreadable. Pressing return to form a double space is slow to respond and often messes up the sentance, its awful! This also happens in Acrobat, as well as preview, I think it is a Mac thing. I do wish Apple would sort this.

Apples does not like Flash and that seems to be obvious and now it is Acrobat. This must be an Adobe thing???

They don't seem to be in any hurry to fix this either. They really need to get this fix. It is very annoying that this can not be fix! Perhaps Apple is waiting on Mountain Lion to fix this? Who knows... but don't hold your breath.

jjshin wrote:

Apples does not like Flash and that seems to be obvious and now it is Acrobat. This must be an Adobe thing???

Adobe is contantly releasing new versions of PDF files into the wild. All of the 3rd party implementations, including Apple's, have to play catch-up.

They don't seem to be in any hurry to fix this either. They really need to get this fix. It is very annoying that this can not be fix! Perhaps Apple is waiting on Mountain Lion to fix this? Who knows... but don't hold your breath.

We can't comment on Mountain Lion issues. However, this problem is with Apple's Preview program. If you really, really need this functionality in Lion, you can always use Acrobat Reader. If there were no other workaround, or it were a more significant issue, then Apple might be in a hurrty to fix it.

etresoft,

I do have Adobe Acrobat Pro and can create or type in the multi-line fields fine but I run into the problem when I attach it to an email because it goes out with the Preview formatting that bunches everything up. I can't seem to save the Acrobat Pro filled file as a static page and still keep it a PDF (seems to have save to JPG and other formats but perfer PDF). The way I've been doing this is to go into Preview and manually make everything double space then printing it as a PDF which makes everything static so that recipients can see the text in the form correctly.

Acrobat and Preview just don't play very well together in Lion from my experience. Unless there is a way to make the page static out of Adobe Acrobat, I am irritated at these two not playing well together. And I completely agree this is something Apple needs to fix but again who knows...

i found these two discussions most helpful on the subject of Preview and PDF forms. I used the script and it has resolved my issues. not sure if it will work for Lion, as I am still using Leopard.

• general discussion of the problem: Correcting PDF Form Field Appearances after Saving with Preview on Mac http://kb2.adobe.com/community/publishing/885/cpsid_88564.html
• the fix: The Script to Fix Mac OSX Preview app. (updated as of 10/05/12): http://blogs.adobe.com/pdfdevjunkie/2009/11/script_to_fix_mac_osx_previewa.html

good luck,

j carlucci

Apple did an update a few weeks ago and for me, anyway, the problem is solved. Pdf forms now format correctly, line spacing is automatic and my life is a whole lot easier! Thanks, Apple!