Adobe PDF Documents

[thecavern]

Hi,

 

The IRS has downloadable forms in which you can fill in

the various "boxes" on the form.

 

The color of the test you type into their updatable form is "blue".

 

Is there any way to change the color to "black" ?

 

Jim

Edited February 14, 2015 by thecavern

[Tripredacus]

Is one able to download one of these PDFs without having to log into a website? If so, can you post a link?

[thecavern]

Not that I'm aware of.

[j7n]

PDF-XChange Viewer has an Accessbility setting to Override Document Colors. It's under the program Preferences. I was able to change all text including the form fields to any color. However, this changes the colors of all text to be the same, not just the fields.

I used these Forms for testing.

[submix8c]

@Tripredacus - here is every form the IRS has. I don't know why the OP said there's no place you can download them

http://www.irs.gov/Forms-&-Pubs

The link j7n gave is linked halfway down. In addition, here's the "how-to" with the other link they gave (with same link inside) -

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/29434/how-to-save-fillable-form-data-in-pdfs

 

I'm looking at the 1040A right now and it has "fillable" fields (in blue). *HOWEVER* I have Pro, so I'm not going to stomp on it with the Reader. I will "assume" the Reader allows you to save them after filling?

 

Yep, you can - Adobe Reader X -

https://acrobatusers.com/tutorials/how-to-save-form-data-in-adobe-reader

Note - Older versions will *not* save the PDF. It's a new feature, unless you have the Pro version.

 

Side note - I'm really unsure of why they want to change the color. It won't print the "blue" - it's just to hilite the Fillable Fields.

Edited February 20, 2015 by submix8c

[j7n]

If I print the forms in PDF-XChange Viewer, they do print out as blue WYSIWYG. I assumed the OP wanted a more legible, economical or faster print in black.

I can also Export form data, which produces an XML file with all the fields and none of the formatting. I don't know what uses such an XML would have. I can also save a filled out form, so that it can be opened later with all the data in it.

The color override I suggested is only for display and print. I can save a document with black type if I produce a new PDF by printing the form out. This does require a "Pro" version of PDF-XChange. I don't see any practical reason for doing this.

One minor issue I can see is that the text doesn't seem to fit neatly in the boundaries of each field. There is not enough padding around text. I don't know it this is a design issue or a flaw in XChange.

Edited February 21, 2015 by j7n

[thecavern]

I went to the web site for "PDF-XChange Viewer".

 

For the download, it gives various options.

 

The first option is "Zip Installer" followed by 7 other downloadable options.

 

Is "Zip Installer" the option I should use ?

[j7n]

There aren't as many choices as it seems. Zip contains the same exe installer. MSI is a special format for system administrators that only causes grief to regular users.

Get the 'portable' version to test the software without any changes to your system. Get the 'EXE' installer to install it with file associations and browser integration (optional).

[jaclaz]

I went to the web site for "PDF-XChange Viewer".

 

For the download, it gives various options.

 

The first option is "Zip Installer" followed by 7 other downloadable options.

 

Is "Zip Installer" the option I should use ?

You mean these?:

1. ZIP installer (32/64 bit) | 16 MB
2. Viewer Manual (PDF) | 7 MB <- seemingly the manual, NOT the program
3. EXE installer (32/64 bit) | 16 MB
4. Portable version (ZIP) | 8 MB
5. Portable Version (OCR Lang Files) | 8 MB<- seemingly the OCR Lang files, NOT the program
6. MSI Network Installer (32 bit) | 27 MB
7. MSI Network Installer (64 bit) | 32 MB
8. Language Localization Tool | 13 M<- seemingly the Langiage Localization tool, NOT the program

I believe  it depends on your exact location and on which time of the day you plan to install the program, Zip installer will work almost always, but reportedly it may have issues every first friday of the month or when there is a full moon (or if you are below the tropic of Capricorn ), the portable version  has more or less the same limitations but allows to install on portable computers such as notebooks or netbooks , the MSI network is the more reliable one - as long as you choose the right bitness, either 32 or 64 bit - because being connected to the MSI network will use Greenwich time as reference, though you will have to manually convert to local time. 

 

Come on , WHICH one among them is the default selected one?

 

Get that one (the Zip installer), unless you know better.

 

jaclaz

Edited February 21, 2015 by jaclaz

[thecavern]

I downloaded the "portable" version of PDF-XChange Viewer.

 

I brought up one of my documents which I had previously filled in.

 

One thing ---  the document comes up without showing me the fields I previously filled in.

However, if I click on a field I had filled in it shows me what I had entered.

 

I looked through the various settings.

 

There must be an option to display the fields I had entered ?

 

If so, how ?

[thecavern]

Rather than the "portable", I downloaded the "ZIP" version.

 

It is exactly what I'm looking for !!

 

Thanks to all above who helped me out.

 

Jim

[j7n]

The difference between portable and installed versions is merely the location where the settings are saved. If a blank file called "portable.dat" is found, the program saves its settings in the program directory as opposed to the registry.

Further experiments revealed a problem. Some of the forms have Part headings as white text on black background. With a color override, that text also becomes black and invisible. I don't know how to solve this efficiently, except by "printing" to a new PDF file and editing that to make the text white again.