Alteryx PDF Outputs

[WU1993]

Hello all,

I have an interesting issue I'd like to ask you all about. 

We have a lot of people at our institution that use Adobe Acrobat Pro to edit PDF's that they may receive or build via the normal PDF process. So, we use have started to use Alteryx's platform to produce PDF reports for different users. While we do the best we can to fulfill the requests of our end-users, we can't always be perfect! 

My question is with Alteryx's PDF Output format...we have a few users that love our PDF reports that we produce, but still would like the ability to edit or manipulate the outputted PDF report. Our issue is that whenever we use Alteryx as the platform for our PDF generator, it disables the Adobe Acrobat Pro member from being able to edit.

Has anyone seen this before or familiar with a potential block that Alteryx is putting on its PDF outputs?

I hope the issue is clear enough and look forward to hearing back from you all!

Thanks,

ML

[vicWeller]

I can't claim for anything for sure, sure I just don't know for what reason Asteryx is getting the reports encrypted and unavailable to edit with Acrobat. For such purposes, which I ran into as well, I use this tool https://ds11.pdffiller.com it's quite similar to Adobe, at least as we speak of features for pdf editing. Paid as well yet way cheaper and has the one month free trial period. The bad thing is, it's a web app requiring instant online access, that means you won't get your docs in a case your there will be no internet for a whole day in the building, but to me it doesn't make a big deal

[WU1993]

Hi,

Thanks for your thoughtful answer! I don't think this is a solution for my company, but hopefully what you said finds it way to helping others :).

Anybody else have any thoughts on this?

Thanks!

[SydneyF · Accepted solution]

Hi @WU1993,

Alteryx PDFs generated by the Render Tool are written out using the libHaru free PDF library. Nothing is done during the write out process to prohibit editing after publication, however, it is possible that editing the libHaru generated PDF files are not supported by Adobe Acrobat. I have found a discussion on the Adobe Forum regarding libHaru here. Perhaps this would be a helpful avenue to continue your investigation.

Please let me know if there are any further questions I might be able to answer for you!

[abrasch]

Hi @SydneyF,

Thanks for highlighting that Render uses libHaru free PDF library. Unfortunately, the forum link you posted is not referencing the specific issue that @WU1993 and I are experiencing (nor is the question answered). I can obviously open the alteryx-exported PDFs in Adobe, but there is no editing functionality. This is a major limitation, because as WU1993 noted, end users typically need some flexibility with the results.

Has anyone else found other potential solutions or workarounds? Thanks,

[abrasch]

Hey Alteryx Community,

Curious if anyone has found a work-around for this issue (re: unable to edit Alteryx-exported PDF in Adobe Acrobat)? The issue is marked answered, but I haven't found a solution in the provided documentation.

[lisamiller]

If you are using this example as a basis for what you are doing you would need to change the 7 to a 4 in the section below and you will have a pdf with editable fields.

https://community.alteryx.com/t5/Alteryx-Designer-Discussions/A-quick-tutorial-for-getting-Alteryx-d...

[abrasch]

Thanks @lisamiller. I'm currently just using the out-of-the-box Render Output Mode of PDF document, so I don't think I can get under the hood in the same way you showed. However, perhaps that Python example is another route to pursue. Thanks.

[jjohn_ost]

I didn't have the cases, when the clients tried to edit pdf by themselves. Neverteheless, I suppose, that this issue will be solved by Alteryx later. To avoid such situations I'm using another tool https://pdfliner.com/ds_11_form which is almost like adobe. It doesn't have the same high prices as adobe do. Unfortunately it can be used only online, although, in your case I think it'll be more comfortable for your clients to edit pdf, at least you can give it a try 😅

[tishalampkins]

Same here. I just discovered this, as well. I was able to export them from Acrobat to Word and make changes, then save it to PDF again. Not ideal, would like to see a fix on this.