Keep a pdf form editable after filling it with pdftk

Question

I'm using pdftk to fill a form but the output form isn't editable, when I open it on acrobat reader I'm getting an error message: "This document enabled extended features in Adobe Reader, The document has been changes since it was created and use of extended features is no longer available."

is it possible to keep the document editable?

Remove the 'flatten' flag and it should still be editable. I just successfully did a form_fill with a fdf file and it didn't break anything in the pdf. — Evan Plaice, Jun 18 '12 at 23:34

score 10 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 15 '15 at 10:33

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To get rid of the Adobe digital signuture, just "cat" the signature out of the PDF.

pdftk signed.pdf cat output notsigned.pdf

answered Jul 15 '15 at 10:33

Marco

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This not only removed the "extended features" message for me for PDFs that are being processed using pdftk's `fill_field`, but it also fixed an issue with some of those filled PDFs showing up blank in Acrobat Pro. Furthermore, the PDFs seem to be playing nicer with Preview (e.g. preview is not auto-resizing those fields) bringing its rendering in line with that of the official Adobe products.IMO this should be the accepted answer. – unceus Dec 06 '17 at 21:49

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered May 24 '12 at 09:33

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No. AFAIK for a PDF to be editable in Adobe Reader it has to be digitally signed by Adobe Acrobat. Obviously manipulating a PDF with pdftk changes the PDF so the signature is no longer valid.

answered May 24 '12 at 09:33

Martin Schröder

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Acknowledging that this question and answer are now five and a half years old, things seem to have changed since this answer was given. It is now possible to maintain a PDF's editability status using pdftk - see [Marco's answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/31428001/416709). – unceus Dec 07 '17 at 00:18

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 14 '13 at 01:07

I had a pdf document that would generate this error whether or not I would use the "flatten" command when adding the form data.

I loaded the pdf document into Adobe Acrobat (version 9, don't know if that's relevant) and selected File | Save a Copy. With the new copy I was able to use pdftk to add form fields without the error.

Using flatten would produce text. Without flatten I got an editable form in Adobe Reader with data filled in.

score -1 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 27 '12 at 15:41

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Removing flatten will make the form editable.

With flatten Only one input PDF can be given, and it just flattens the output pdf file which makes it uneditable.

syntax :

For editable pdf as output - "passthru("<dir> $pdf_fill $fdf output - "); "

With flatten - passthru("<dir> $pdf_fill $fdf output - flatten ");

edited Jul 27 '12 at 15:41

Jack

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answered Jul 27 '12 at 14:51

Sathya

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Removing the *flatten* attribute will not make the output file editable **in Acrobat Reader** – yms Jul 27 '12 at 15:58
above comment is true as per my testing by removing the flatten attribute – mns Apr 28 '22 at 05:38

Keep a pdf form editable after filling it with pdftk

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