PDF forms not working on mobile devices except with Foxit

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Open Wide
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Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2016 2:58 am

PDF forms not working on mobile devices except with Foxit

Post by Open Wide »

My interactive PDF forms are functional on laptops and PCs using all browsers and various standalone readers directly, including Adobe and Foxit.

However, none of the interactive elements (fillable text fields, dropdowns, checkboxes, etc.) are functional on either Apple or Android devices using various browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari) nor with the Adobe reader app. All of these elements are completely disabled in all of those apps, and invisible in most of the apps.

The interesting thing is that my forms do work on both Apple and Android with the Foxit app. This is the only reader I've tried that works with my forms.
Can someone please explain why this is so?
This has been the case with previous versions of Writer, and I'm actually using the latest version as well.

I would like to make my PDFs compatible on mobile platforms w/o forcing users to install the Foxit app. Am I missing something or is this a limitation/bug of the other reader apps and/or OO Writer and is currently impossible?
Last edited by MrProgrammer on Wed Aug 19, 2020 6:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Moved topic from Writer forum to General Discussion
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Bidouille
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Re: PDF forms not working on mobile devices except with Foxi

Post by Bidouille »

Well, this is not an OpenOffice issue but only with your PDF readers.
Open Wide
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Re: PDF forms not working on mobile devices except with Foxi

Post by Open Wide »

I suspected this might be nothing more than the Foxit devs being more clever than the rest.

It's understandable that Adobe wouldn't bother with compatibility, since they want everyone to use their proprietary creator $oftware. Other interactive forms I've downloaded do work with the various readers, and they were obviously created with Adobe $oftware, so it is kind of an OO issue — Writer isn't doing something that Adobe is doing which makes their forms functional on mobile.

The devs of other apps and browsers apparently haven't gotten wise to OO Writer yet. Sucks to be locked into one reader on mobile, but so be it I guess. :(
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keme
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Re: PDF forms not working on mobile devices except with Foxi

Post by keme »

Open Wide wrote:I suspected this might be nothing more than the Foxit devs being more clever than the rest.
[...]
The devs of other apps and browsers apparently haven't gotten wise to OO Writer yet. Sucks to be locked into one reader on mobile, but so be it I guess. :(
It may also be deviations from published pdf standards, either by Adobe (possibly to push their own product as the "only thing that works") or by Apache and Foxit devs in conjunction (which is less likely).

Expecting a web browser to also be a full featured standalone pdf reader is a bit of a stretch. Some browsers (Chrome, Edge) do a decent job, but for "inline pdf viewing" a pdf plugin is often required. Foxit being a dedicated pdf reader, it is less of a stretch to expect the full set of features to be supported.

In any case, I'd say that this is for the developers to handle, not this forum.
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