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Question

Question

PDF missing data when saved to repository through LF Forms submission

asked on June 12, 2024

We are noticing that some PDFs are missing data after being stored in the repository via an LF Forms upload.  The PDFs are standard government forms, such as the W9, and the data that is missing is the information filled out by the form's original user. Apparently, they download the form, fill it out in Adobe, and then send it to us. It looks fine when we get it but after uploading to an LF form and having the Forms process save it to the repository, all the filled-in information is gone.  If I try uploading the PDF to the repository manually, I get the following error:

 

 

I did a bit of research on this, and it seems that the likely scenario is that the user filled out the form in Acrobat, but then opened and saved it with possibly different software such as Foxit.  This breaks the digital "seal" on the document and means it can't be saved again with the filled-in data.  

My question is this: Is there any way that Laserfiche can handle storing the form in the repository as a PDF without losing the data?  I also tried saving to the repository manually with the option to Generate Laserfiche Pages selected and that worked...so I'm wondering if that worked couldn't it also work when saving as a PDF from the Forms process?

 

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Answer

SELECTED ANSWER
replied on June 12, 2024

You can enable page generation for the user account configured in the Save to Repository profile. I'd recommend using a separate account so it doesn't apply globally. Once you have the account created, temporarily grant it a license, log into the repository, and enable the page generation settings under the user options. Afterward you can remove the license.

We receive a large number of public forms filled out in similar ways, and issues like this are fairly common. You may find that even when page generation succeeds, you might still lose data on some fillable PDFs depending on how it was done and what tools were used.

Unfortunately, the only way to really avoid these issues is to flatten the PDF in advance, and we provide instructions to use "print to PDF" options and not submit editable PDFs.

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replied on June 13, 2024

Thanks Jason!

 

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