View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0017498ScribusPDFpublic2025-04-16 00:02
Reporterale Assigned Tojghali  
PrioritynormalSeverityminorReproducibilityalways
Status closedResolutionno change required 
Product Version1.7.1.svn 
Summary0017498: Adding a PDF field increseas the size of the generated file
DescriptionCreating a PDF with a document that only contains an empty text frame generates a PDF of 1.3 KB.

Adding an input field gives a PDF of 469 KB.

It seems to be related with the embedding of fonts, which I'm not sure are really in use.

P.S.: creating a PDF with just an input field -- as expected -- also shows the form tax.
TagsNo tags attached.
PatchNo

Activities

ale

2025-04-15 15:56

manager  

pdf-text-field.pdf (478,775 bytes)
pdf-text-frame.pdf (1,296 bytes)

jghali

2025-04-15 18:56

administrator   ~0052439

This is expected, PDF fields require fonts to be embedded with specific encoding.

ale

2025-04-15 19:50

manager   ~0052441

which fonts?

which are the fonts used for the content of the field?

i seem to recall that only some standard fonts (that are embedded in the pdf reader) can be used.
or is this not true anymore?
is it only for pdf 1.3 (as the dialog seems to hint)?
but the file size increases in the same way also for pdf 1.3.

ale

2025-04-15 20:02

manager   ~0052444

I've set a specific font for a field, exported as pdf 1.4, opened the pdf in firefox and i get a standard font, not the one i have set.

but it might be, that firefox is not good enough

jghali

2025-04-15 23:46

administrator   ~0052448

Last edited: 2025-04-16 00:02

PDF fields are restricted to the 12 PDF standard fonts if exported to PDF <= 1.3. PDF >= 1.4 can use TrueType fonts. The font embedded for a PDF field is the font defined at text frame level. It has to be embedded for the user to have a chance to fill the form properly. No formatting performed in the frame is taken into account for PDF form fields.

>> but it might be, that firefox is not good enough

I did a quick test, Firefox indeed does not seem to respect the font defined in the PDF contrary to Adobe Reader. And MS Edge is not much better. Both do not respect the PDF 1.3 / PDF 1.4 specification differences related to forms. For eg. I create a PDF Text field and define Zapf Dingbats as the font to use for PDF 1.3, neither will use it when filling the text field if PDF is exported to PDF 1.3. On Windows Adobe Reader clearly use the PDF standard font when filling form exported to PDF 1.3 and switch to the TTF option when form is exported to PDF >= 1.4.

In general I'd strongly advise against using PDF forms for forms which have to be filled from the web. Web browsers are pretty limited PDF viewers which do not intend to fully implement PDF specifications. Their primary target is clearly not filling PDF forms. The various PDF form submission modes may also not work properly depending on web browser. In fact I remember some only work properly in Adobe products. To sum up, PDF forms work well only in controlled environments. For filling forms on web browsers, HTML forms is the way to go.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
2025-04-15 15:56 ale New Issue
2025-04-15 15:56 ale File Added: pdf-text-and-input-field.pdf
2025-04-15 15:56 ale File Added: pdf-text-field.pdf
2025-04-15 15:56 ale File Added: pdf-text-frame.pdf
2025-04-15 18:56 jghali Assigned To => jghali
2025-04-15 18:56 jghali Status new => resolved
2025-04-15 18:56 jghali Resolution open => no change required
2025-04-15 18:56 jghali Note Added: 0052439
2025-04-15 18:57 jghali Status resolved => closed
2025-04-15 19:50 ale Note Added: 0052441
2025-04-15 20:02 ale Note Added: 0052444
2025-04-15 23:46 jghali Note Added: 0052448
2025-04-15 23:54 jghali Note Edited: 0052448
2025-04-16 00:02 jghali Note Edited: 0052448