Reader DC Protected View not displaying filled in forms?

[DelphinusIT]

Pleasant day all! First time post, so I'll get right to it.

In Acrobat DC Reader, 2015 and 2017, when Protected View (iProtectedView http://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/PrefRef/Windows/index.html ) is turned on for all files, a blank form when opened will show the form in read only mode.

However! - after enabling features, entering anything (even a single character into a single field) and saving, when the file is opened again there is a message "Please Wait... If this message is not eventually replaced by the proper contents of the document, your PDF viewer may not be able to display this type of document ...".

Clicking Enable all features allows the entire document to be viewed and puts the document into an interactive mode.

This also happens with forms that are provided partially or completely filled, not just forms created on the user's machine.

How can we keep protected view enabled for all files and allow users to read forms just by opening them without enabling all features?

Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

[DelphinusIT]

Medium quality news - this issue does not appear on every form! But it appears on enough forms found in the wild.

After checking around a bit, we found some examples of forms which work as expected, and some which do not

Below pdf forms work as expected, with protected view enabled for all files

https://www.gsa.gov/Forms/TrackForm/33102

https://www.gsa.gov/Forms/TrackForm/33101

https://navalforms.documentservices.dla.mil/formsDir/_DD_2875_MC__4571.pdf

Where:

1) blank forms appear as read only mode.

2) completed or filled-in forms which have been saved and reopened appear as read only mode.

Below pdf forms do not work as expected, with protected view enabled for all files

https://navalforms.documentservices.dla.mil/formsDir/_OPNAV_5239_14_7631.pdf

https://navalforms.documentservices.dla.mil/formsDir/_SECNAV_5512_1_11787.pdf

Where:

1) completed or filled-in forms which have been saved and reopened display the "Please wait..." error message and require enabling of all features before viewing content.

Is anyone able to suggest, or identify what is causing this?

[DelphinusIT]

Honestly, How does this work? No responses, not even from Adobe, not even a "Working as Intended" or "Cannot Reproduce".

The support links for Reader and Acrobat all led to "Community Forums". Is there some other way to get support? We received an approved "Adobe Reader and Runtime Software Distribution License Agreement".

Since all the posts appear to be moderated, will the moderator forward this on to someone who can tell me to seek support differently, or can give me any kind of response?

soumik011​ - I notice you are active in other threads, Can you provide some direction on steps I can take to maybe get communicating with someone?

[soumik011]

Hi JasonG876,

I am forwarding your issue to the concerned team. We will get back to you on this soon.

Regards

Soumik

[shaktikeshri]

Hi JasonG876,

I'll try to debug the issue at my end with the sample files provided by you and come back to you with you next steps.

Thanks & REgards,

Shakti Keshri

[shaktikeshri · Accepted solution]

Hi,

These are few PDF forms which renders the content from a server.

By design, due to security concerns rendering the content from a server is not allowed when the PDF is opened in Protected View .

That is why these PDFs are not displayed in protected view.

We'll look into the issue and decide if something can be done without compromising the security.

As of now , if you are accessing the files from a common location/domain , then you can trust that location/domain so that the PDFs are opened outside protected view.

Thanks,

Shakti K

[DelphinusIT]

Interesting!

Based on what you found I have tried opening a blank from those two examples with the problem, enabling features, then doing a save-as, and opening the new version. That new version opens in read only mode. Then after entering and clearing out text, saving, reopening it: the "Please wait..." message shows again.

So these forms we have problems with are contacting a server to download something after a form field is filled in? and then afterwards the form tries to contact the server every time it is opened?

Here is a different source for that 5512/1 form. This version opens in read only mode when blank, I guess that other version may have had information entered, then cleared out before being uploaded.
https://cnic.navy.mil/content/dam/cnic/hq/images/DBIDS/SECNAV%20Form%205512-1.pdf

Please verify that I have understood this correctly.
Thank you for offering to look into it and see if anything can be done to improve functionality without compromising security.

[~graffiti]

Are you downloading these forms and opening them in the actual Reader application or are you opening them in your web browser (like Chrome) and trying to use the Reader plug-in? This looks suspiciously like the message you get in the browser when it uses it's own pdf viewer (Chrome, Edge are two main culprits). The way to test would be, do not open the forms in your browser. Right-click the link, save the form then use File>Open from within Adobe Acrobat Reader.

[DelphinusIT]

~graffiti I am downloading these forms and opening them in the actual Reader DC application. - My actual reader application has enabled protected mode, protected view all files, and enhanced security. The machines are only using IE; while Edge is installed on some machines, it is not being used and is not set as the default pdf viewer or internet browser.

Using File > Open, on the problem forms, then Enable Features, then entering text, then File > Save As, then using File > Open again on the saved form returns the same results.