How can I stop Adobe Reader from asking "Save As" when saving a PDF form (i.e. allow just "Save")?

Question

Does anyone know how to call Adobe Reader from the command line to open a pre-populated Adobe Form (with Extensions enabled) e.g MRBIGSORDER0001.PDF, allow the user to alter it and then do a save and exit?

At present when the populated form is opened for updating, hitting Save or the Save button on the toolbar prompts the user with "Save As", which is causing them to create multiple versions.

Indecorous

Answer 1

This issues appears to be related to new Security / Sandbox settings from Adobe Reader X onwards.

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It is not clear exactly how to stop this from happening on a fine "level" but going to:

Edit --> Preferences --> Security (Enhanced)

Turning off "[ ] Enable Protected Mode at Startup" certianly stops this odd behavior cold.

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I am looking into "Priveledged Locations" settings to see if I can fine tune this.

cheers,

JonHD

Indecorous

Did you or anyone figure out how to make it work for a specific folder or file or certificate? What are the security implications of disabling this? – Watcher

Answer 2

Make sure you are not using the Preview pane in the windows View. If you just use the Navigation pane and not preview or details pane then you should be able to just save.

It's like windows is holding the file open and so it is an active file and you can't just do a save you have to do a save as.

I think it must be a bug with the windows update

Taintless

This has been an ongoing issues since Windows 7.. still an issue in Windows 10. – Indecorous

Answer 3

If you want end-users to be able to save a document that has been filled out, you need to Reader-enable the form.

Reader-enabling can only be done with Adobe software as the concept consists of digitally signing the document using a private key owned by Adobe. This digital signature unlocks functionality in Adobe Reader that is otherwise only available in Adobe Acrobat.

So, the solution is:

• Make sure that the original form is reader-enabled (use Adobe Acrobat to do this),
• Do not break the reader-enabling when pre-filling the form,
• Thanks to the two previous steps, the "Save" button will work in your current set-up.

Zampardi

Sorry - this is not the issue. Reader Extensions are enabled. – Indecorous