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Reader enabled rights different when opened in Reader 7, 8, and 9

Forum Index > Forms: Acrobat > Reader enabled rights different when opened in Reader 7, 8, and 9
2009-10-12 16:10:16
bhofsetz
Registered: Oct 8 2009
Posts: 5
Answered

I have a form created in Acobat 9 Professional. I have enabled extended features in Adobe Reader.

When I open the form on another computer running Adobe Reader 7 I am able to fill in the form fields, resave the file and re-open, make changes and re-save.

I am also able to do this on two different computers running Reader 8 with the same file.

When I try to open the file on another computer running Reader 9 I get the error message "This document has been changed since rights were enabled and cannont be changed. Contact the form author for an original copy".

Why would enabled rights work as expected for Reader 7 and 8 but won't let me make further changes or save new changes in Reader 9.

Thanks

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2009-10-14 09:27:12
#1
bhofsetz
Registered: Oct 8 2009
Posts: 5
Has anyone experienced this with different behavior when a form created in Acorbat 9 Professional is opened in Reader 7, 8, or 9?

Thanks for any input
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2009-10-14 10:04:57
#2
thomp
Expert
Registered: Feb 15 2006
Posts: 4411
Yes, unfortunately this behavior is expected. Rights are applied to a PDF with ancient and mysterious digital signatures known only to the inner circle at Adobe. The actual digital signatures for the rights have changed between certain versions. So it's different for Acrobat 7 than in Acrobat 9. When the document is changed, i.e., when the form is filled out, these changes are logged, as with any digitally signed document. Unfortunately since the mechanism and signature is different between 7 and 9, changes in 7 cause 9 to think the signature is invalidated by un-allowed changes to the PDF. Actually A7 does make changes that were 0k in 7, but are not ok for 9.

While this is a bummer, the fact is that Rights Enabled documents are not guarenteed to be backwards compatible. If you are going to use rights, then your users have to have the same version of Reader.

Thom Parker
The source for PDF Scripting Info
[url=http://www.pdfScripting.com]pdfscripting.com[/url]

The Acrobat JavaScript Reference, Use it Early and Often
[url=http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/javascript.php]http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/javascript.php[/url]

Then most important JavaScript Development tool in Acrobat
[url=http://www.pdfscripting.com/public/34.cfm#JSIntro][b]The Console Window (Video tutorial)[/b][/url]
[url=http://www.acrobatusers.com/tutorials/2006/javascript_console][b]The Console Window(article)[/b][/url]

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

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2009-10-14 13:49:19
#3
bhofsetz
Registered: Oct 8 2009
Posts: 5
Thom P.

Thanks for the information. That explains the behavior that I was observing with the form I was trying to create. For my application it should be ok as long as the end user isn't trying to switch between Reader 7 and 9 to fill out the form on different machines. I will just have to put a disclaimer that they should update to the latest version of Reader or be sure they are using the same version of reader if they plan to work with the form on multiple computers.

Until I can infiltrate the inner circle at Adobe and figure out the ancient and mysterious digital signatures applied to the form by different versions of Reader this will have to do.

Thanks again for the information.
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