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Open Form FDF File

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2011-05-26 11:36:49
DougN
Registered: Feb 16 2010
Posts: 7
Answered

Hello,
 
I am using Adobe 8 Professional. I have a FDF file and a PDF file and when I open FDF file by double clicking on it, the form opened but it's completely blank. The data appear properly if I use the Import Data function from the menu. Also, when I viewed the FDF file content with Notepad I could see the correct path to the PDF file.
 
Open FDF file by double clicking on it always worked in previous version of Adobe but I couldn't get it to work in Adobe 8 Professional.
 
Does anybody know how I can get this to work in Adobe 8 Professional?
 
Any suggestion is greatly appreciated.
 
Doug.
 

My Product Information:
Acrobat Pro 8.0, Windows
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2011-05-26 18:58:09
#1
thomp
Expert
Registered: Feb 15 2006
Posts: 4411
Each PDF has an internal ID composed of two numbers, a document number and an instance number. If these numbers are in the FDF (they'll be at the bottom), then Acrobat checks the document ID before importing the data. It's possible that the IDs don't match so Acrobat is not importing the data. The solution is to either regenerate the FDF file without the doc ID or to delete the doc ID from the existing FDF.

Thom Parker
The source for PDF Scripting Info
www.pdfscripting.com
Very Important - How to Debug Your Script

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2011-06-02 06:44:57
#2
DougN
Registered: Feb 16 2010
Posts: 7
Hi Thom,

Thank you for your reply and sorry for taking so long to get back.

I have tried your suggestion to delete the IDs but the form is still blank when I double click on the FDF file.

Do you think it could be one of the preference settings? I have tried several changes in the preference but made no difference.

Thanks
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2011-06-02 08:58:45
#3
thomp
Expert
Registered: Feb 15 2006
Posts: 4411
Accepted Answer
Obviously the FDF is formatted correctly if the PDF opens and data is imported when it's loaded manually. So something else is going on. Maybe it's a security issue.

Enhanced security was introduced in Acrobat 8. Look in the Preferences on the "Security(Enhanced)" tab. If it's turned on then Acrobat blocks certain types of secure operations unless the affected document/folder/domain is listed as trusted. Importing data is considered a secure operation. However, Acrobat is supposed to popup a message asking you if you want to trust the operation. It shouldn't just block it without letting you know. Try resetting your warning messages from the "General" tab on the preferences dialog.

Thom Parker
The source for PDF Scripting Info
www.pdfscripting.com
Very Important - How to Debug Your Script

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2011-06-02 10:09:57
#4
DougN
Registered: Feb 16 2010
Posts: 7
Hi Thom,

Turning off the Enable Enhanced Security did solve the problem.

Great work! I hope someone will find this thread useful.

Thank you so much for spending your time to help.


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