Making Changes to a Distributed Form

[mchamster010101]

I have distributed a form created using Designer, with info to be submitted to Acrobat.com for processing, and some recipients (like 50%) are having problems opening it or submitting the data to Acrobat.com.  As a result, I want to add some instructions on what they should do if they have problems (i.e., print out the form and mail it in, or save it and email it).

If I add this info to the original PDF form file, and then Distribute that changed file (without changing its name), will this create a new version of the filename_distributed.pdf file that gets created when distributing a form, with this new info in it?  Will the filename_responses file, which contains some info now, be updated if I were to in fact add a new question to the form?

Or do I need to start with a new filename for everything, and then have to combine the responses into a single file?

Oh, and is the 50% failure rate in opening or submitting it high?  This is a general population sample, not a company sample, so they may have older versions of Reader, I suppose.

Dave

[mchamster010101]

Here is what I've discovered happens when I change a form that has already been distributed, then redistribute it:  It creates a new distributed file with a distributed_001 appended to it.  (i.e, if my PDF file is called filename.pdf, the first time I distributed it it created filename_distributed.pdf, and filename_responses.pdf... when I modify filename.pdf, then distribute it again, it creates two new files on my hard drive, filename_distributed_001.pdf and filename_responses_001.pdf.)

No problem if I'm distributing via email to new recipients.  But here's my problem with this _001 file:  I've already sent out an email, with a link to "filename_distributed.pdf" which is posted on a web site, for respondents to download and submit.  If I post the modified file, filename_distributed_001.pdf, on the site, obviously the link in my email won't work.

I could just send another email with a link to this new _001 file name, but would prefer not to.  So here's what my workaround has been.  It looks like it will work with my tests, but if someone sees a big problem with this please let me know:

1.  I logged into acrobat.com, and deleted "filename_distributed.pdf"  (actually I renamed it in case the test didn't work and I could rename it back if so).

2.  I then renamed filename_distributed_001.pdf to filename_distributed.pdf.

3.  I then downloaded this renamed filename_distributed.pdf (which is "actually" filename_distributed_001.pdf, just with a different name) to my hard drive, to replace the file there (again renaming the file on my drive to allow recovery if this failed).

4.  I then uploaded this file to the web site, replacing the file there.

So now if someone clicks the link in my email sent out, it pulls up this modified file because it has the right name.  When they fill out the form and submit it, the responses go to the new filename_responses_001 file, which is fine, I can use that file to collect responses.  I just have to merge them with the responses I've already collected in filename_responses.pdf.

If someone sees some problem with this, that I haven't detected yet, please let me know.  Thanks.

Dave