IRS Form 941 un-fillable line using Preview

Question

IRS Form 941 un-fillable line using Preview

There is one line item on the January 2007 version of the fill-in IRS Form 941 that I cannot select and fill-in information using Preview 3.0.8 (409): "Name (not your trade name)". With every other item on the form, I can tab or mouse into, but not this one. Is this a known bug affecting more than me? Is there a fix?

MacBook Pro 2.33 GHz 2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8)

PB G4 1.25GHz Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on Apr 12, 2007 3:07 PM

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Answer 1

Network 23

Level 6

12,351 points

Apr 12, 2007 4:34 PM in response to sticky moments

I have noticed that some PDF forms that Preview cannot handle are easily handled by the free Adobe Reader. You might want to download and try that.

There are PDF version and feature support differences between Adobe Reader and Preview, and forms may be affected. Preview may be a bit behind in this area.

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Answer 2

Apr 12, 2007 5:52 PM in response to Network 23

Thanks for your reply. Adobe Reader 7 and 8, as expected, both are able to edit every fill-in field on the IRS fill-in 941 form. Admittedly I don't know how the IRS' Acrobat genius designs the fill-in forms, but it struck me as odd that all Reader-editable fields except one is editable in Preview. PDF docs automatically open in Preview by default on my hardware, and frankly I like Preview and wish it were feature-equivalent to Reader as long as it remains fast to open. Thanks again.

MacBook Pro 2.33GHz 2GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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Answer 3

PDFguru

Level 1

9 points

Apr 13, 2007 9:10 AM in response to sticky moments

Thanks for pointing out the issue with this form. I checked it out in Reader 8 and in Acrobat 8 and it worked fine (just like you said). I also opened it in Preview and it had the same problem as you mentioned. I opened the file in Acrobat and looked at the properties of the field, and could not find a reason for it.

I did all this because I work at the IRS in the Forms area - specializing in fillable PDFs - and we take any problem with our forms seriously. You can let us know about problems with our forms by using the "Contact Us" part of the www.irs.gov website. If you leave your email, they will reply back to you.

I will pull the form apart and see if there is anything under the covers that might be causing this, but at first glance, I could not find anything.

We do not recommend using Preview when interacting with IRS forms though. You get more consistent results with Adobe Acrobat or Reader. And the form is saveable using Reader.

I will let you know what I find out.

Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

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Answer 4

PDFguru

Level 1

9 points

Apr 20, 2007 8:51 AM in response to PDFguru

I have looked at this file in Acrobat 5, 6, 7 and 8 (and Reader) and have not found one thing that could have caused the field in question to provide this behavior.

Sorry I could not figure it out. I am stumped.

Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

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Answer 5

greg sahli

Level 7

25,508 points

Apr 20, 2007 9:46 AM in response to PDFguru

Since Apple employees don't often read this forum, could one of you please post the issue on the OS X Tiger Feedback forum? (That's the one they read)

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