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 featur

Answer 1

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

pdftk signed.pdf cat output notsigned.pdf

Answer 2

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 ");

Answer 3

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 Obviously manipulating a PDF with pdftk changes the PDF so the signature is no longer valid.

Answer 4

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.