How do you make some pdfs writeable (but not save-able)

Factual Questions
1

Sometimes when I get a pdf, I am able to type into it and then print it out, pre-typed. Sometimes I can’t type in there at all. I am not able to save it with the changes, but it makes a big difference to even be able to type.

I am sure that there is someting in the creation of the pdf that makes it possible. How is it done? I don’t have a pdf creator, but I would like to request the people who make them make them be write-able.

Thanks ahead of time.

2

I don’t know how it’s done, but I’m curious as well. And I have a PDF form here that I can complete and save with the information I’ve entered.

3

You need the full version of Adobe Acrobat to edit and save PDF files - it’s not commonly given away for free. What you may have is Adobe Acrobat Reader or some other PDF reader.

There may be other software that allows you to edit PDFs, but Acrobat is the only one I’m aware of.

4

I know that part, Astronaut. I don’t have the full version, but I want to tell the people who have the full version and make the pdfs how to do it this way.

5

I haven’t tried this so I can’t confirm or deny that it works, but here are some instructions from eHow.

6

I don’t remember who, but someone on this board recommend a free PDF viewer that will let you type on top of a PDF and save it or print it. I’ve used it to fill out forms as well as to add chords to PDF sheet music. (I wouldn’t let it be your default PDF viewer, though, as it’s kinda slow to startup. Stick with Foxit or Adobe for reading.)

Here it is: PDF-Xchange Viewer.

Hope that helps!

7

Looking at the Acrobat product matrix, it appears that you can do this with Acrobat X Standard, which is only about $200. But according to the Wikipedia article on Acrobat, you couldn’t do this with Acrobat Standard versions 6, 7 or 8 but needed Acrobat Professional versions 6, 7 or 8. (The feature was added to Acrobat Standard starting with version 9.) So you (meaning Anaamika) might want to ask the person making the form which version of Acrobat they currently have.

8

Only people with full Adobe acrobat can do what you’re asking. There are numerous programs that will take any document and convert it to a pdf document, that will not have the features that you are looking for. The people that send you these forms, may just be converting a word document or other type to a pdf document with one of these types of programs and not have any control over your ability to input into the form.

Why not discuss your problem directly with the supplier of your pdf forms? That would seem to be your most straightforward option to a potential solution.

9

PDF is an open standard. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of third-party utilities that let you create and edit PDFs. Many of them are Free Software.