Blank PDF Form Field Issue

If you are having issues with your PDF forms where you can see the forms filled out however they appear blank to the rest of the world here is the problem.

Why are my PDF forms not showing filled in form fields unless I click on them?

Why are people saying my PDF form is blank?

Mac users can see a completed PDF document however Windows users cannot, because the Mac PDF viewer is corrupting the file.

PROBLEM:

Why are my PDF forms not showing filled in form fields unless I click on them?

What is probably happening is that the form is being filled out in Apple Preview instead of Adobe Acrobat. If a PDF form is filled out with Apple Preview it will not show the data in the form fields when opened in Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader on a Mac or PC.

SOLUTION:

Mac users Follow the steps below to prevent this from happening again

• 1. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader by CLICKING HERE

  2. Install Adobe Acrobat Reader following the prompts

  3. Once Acrobat is installed, located a PDF on your Mac

  4. Right-Click (Control+Click) on the PDF file and choose Get Info (You can also press Command+I to pull up this same dialog box)

  5. Once the Information panel opens, look for Open With: section

  6. In the drop down menu, choose Adobe Acrobat Reader

  7. Click the Change All... button to set all PDFs to open with Adobe Acrobat Reader. You will have to chose OK to verify the changes.

  8. Close all dialog boxes as this should take care of the issue from here on

Windows or Mac user with a unreadable PDF file.

If you have any PDFs that still exhibit the behavior of form fields being blank until you click on them, you can following the instructions below to permanently fix them for that file:

• 1. Open the PDF with Adobe Acrobat Reader

  2. Click a field that contains data you can't see normally and select all text (Command+A will work after you click in the field)

  3. Cut the data out of the field by pressing Command+X or go to the Edit menu and then Cut

  4. Click in another field to highlight that field

  5. Click back in the original field that you cut the data from

  6. Paste the information back into the form field by pressing Command+V or going to the Edit menu and the Paste

  7. Repeat for each field

  8. Go to the File menu and Save As to save the file as a PDF that will show the information in the form fields