The IRS and Adobe Reader X

[wither 3]

When I do my taxes, I download the Form 1040 PDF from irs.gov and fill it out on the computer. This year, Adobe Reader X (AR X) could read the form but gave a few error messages about changes in the form and I couldn't fill it out. Apparently, the IRS did things to their forms which made them incompatible with AR X. I used the free IceCream PDF Editor to open the form and it allowed me to make changes but wouldn't let me print it without the watermark. I'm not going to pay $60 for the Pro version to eliminate the watermark. AR X will open the saved form but can't delete the watermark. I can fill out the form on-line and print it but would rather not. I wonder if the IRS will accept the form with the watermark?

 

[Vistaar]

If you still have a working Windows 7 installation, then I really think you should concentrate your efforts there.

FYI: Adobe Reader XI worked just fine on Vista and was my preference, but it is very likely too old to help with your issue anyway. Imacri preferred something else, PDF Xchange if I remember correctly; but their EOL announcement for XP and Vista is about the same age as your present Vista installation:

PDF-XChange Co Ltd

If you are determined to find something else for Vista, I would look under the heading PDF Viewers/Editors in this MSFN post (which unfortunately hasn’t been updated for quite some time now):

Last versions of software for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008

 

[wither 3]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I didn't try AR XI because it isn't supposed to be compatible with Vista. I managed to install it but it gives me the same errors as AR X when trying to enter text in the 1040 (it says the file contains extensions and says to ask the author to remove the extensions).

I'm guessing the free versions of the other software mentioned in the links will perform like IceCream (which isn't listed in the last link). The time to do installs/tests is far more than simply doing the forms either by hand or on-line.

I did one of the 1040 schedules on-line yesterday and printed it out. Worked fine. The problem is, I don't think one can save those without the extensions and if, one makes a mistake, the form has to be filled out completely again. For years, I've been fighting with the powers to be in Ohio over the inability to save their tax forms which can be edited with AR X (haven't got to this years forms yet to see if I can edit them).

I think I'm going to use IceCream. The water mark is a box on the bottom of the page which says that it was edited in IceCream and to buy the Pro to get rid of the water mark. It doesn't over-write anything on the page. Worst that can happen is the IRS can say- Do it again without the water mark.

 

[Vistaar]

After Reader XI, Adobe renamed their product Acrobat Reader. It appears that a 32-bit version still supports Windows 7 but their 64-bit version now requires Windows 10:

https://helpx.adobe.com/reader/system-requirements.html

 

[wither 3]

Well, much to my dismay, IceCream doesn't recognize the format of where you add SSNs. I can add text boxes but there's no alignment controls to make sure the numbers are added such that IRS scanners are sure to understand. I also tried the same thing while on-line with the 1040 form but it doesn't work either.

Then, I decided to uninstall AR XI because it doesn't do me any good, and reinstalled AR X. I can read a few old PDFs but some that are 5 years old say they have extensions and I can't edit any of them, new or old. When I try, it says Adobe Reader has a problem and will shut down.

So, I decided to do a system restore and, of course, I get the "did not complete successfully" message. From experience, I know that doesn't always mean changes weren't made. Haven't tried AR yet.

At this point, I'm thinking I should hand fill the forms but something tells me that they don't accept them anymore.

Not sure where I'm going with this yet. I'm writing this on one of my Win 7 systems.

 

[wither 3]

After the system restore, AR X will go to the opening page and if I let it sit for a few minutes, it says "Adobe Reader has stopped working." I don't what's with that. When I installed AR XI, I didn't use the AR X trusted certificates but they should have reinstalled.

 

[wither 3]

I did a repair of AR X from Control Panel and rebooted to no avail. Not sure where to go next.

 

[Vistaar]

Filling out paper tax forms by hand is probably easier than trying to use Windows Vista in 2024. My advice was to concentrate on Windows 7.

If you still have a working Windows 7 installation, then I really think you should concentrate your efforts there.

FYI: Adobe Reader XI worked just fine on Vista and was my preference, but it is very likely too old to help with your issue anyway.

Then, I decided to uninstall AR XI because it doesn't do me any good, and reinstalled AR X....So, I decided to do a system restore and, of course, I get the "did not complete successfully" message...

This blog is rather sad. The unsurprising fact that Reader XI is also too old was not really a good reason to revert to Reader X, which is even older.

After the system restore, AR X will go to the opening page and if I let it sit for a few minutes, it says "Adobe Reader has stopped working."

You probably fouled up Adobe Reader by not completely removing all traces from hidden folders (AppData etc.) before installing an older version, but so what? Can you give me one good reason why you need Reader X installed in 2024? Do you think you need an NPAPI plugin for Firefox 52 or an ActiveX plugin for IE9? There are good reasons why you no longer use those browsers! Just get rid of Adobe Reader and move on.

 

[wither 3]

Well, I got tired of screwing around with AR on Vista and installed AR DC on one of my Win 7 system. It imported the 1040 and I filled it out in less than 10 minutes. The new problem is printing it out to my printer which is connected to my Vista system. I was able to add my printer to Win 7 but it wouldn't print. There was another incarnation of my printer that it found and, after adding it, I was able to print a test page from Win 7 but nothing else. When I try to print the 1040, Win7 says it's printing but it's not going to my printer even though it's shown when I do the print. I'm going to do some more work on that.

I was able to use AR X until this "extensions" issue came up from the new 1040. It keeps telling me the use of extensions has expired and I can't open any of the PDF files that contained a 1040, going back 10 years.

Now, get this, I was able to open a PDF totally unrelated to the 1040's. I then tried another one. It opened and while I was looking at it, AR said it was installing update 10.1.16. After that, I can go back and open any of my old 1040 PDFs. It also quit telling me that it quit working when I open it. However, when trying the 2023 form 1040 again, it said it enabled extensions and I can't edit it. I can still open my old PDFs. I haven't tried getting the completed file off of Win 7 and trying it but I expect I'll get the same error.

 

[lmacri]

Apparently, the IRS did things to their forms which made them incompatible with AR X. I used the free IceCream PDF Editor to open the form and it allowed me to make changes but wouldn't let me print it without the watermark. I'm not going to pay $60 for the Pro version to eliminate the watermark...

Hi wither3:

As Vistaar suggested, it would make more sense to use a PDF reader on a machine with a newer OS, but if you're really stuck you might want to try Tracker Software's free PDF-XChange Viewer v2.5.x (for Win XP and higher) on your Vista machine. That is the legacy PDF reader I used on my Vista SP2 machine and it is still available for download at PDF-XChange Co Ltd :: Downloads, but that product has not been supported since 2018 and has been replaced by a newer PDF-XChange Editor v10.2.x that requires Win 7 SP1 and higher.

As a test, I downloaded the legacy PDF-XChange Viewer v2.5.322.10 portable build (PDFX_Vwr_Port.zip) build from PDF-XChange Co Ltd :: Downloads using my Win 10 machine and saved it to a folder at E:\Portable\PDF-XChange Viewer that I created on a removable USB stick. I unizpped that file, ran the PDFXCview.exe executable, opened a fillable tax form I downloaded from the Canada Revenue Agency site and filled in a few numbers. When I printed to my printer there was no watermark. Note that there are some features in the free versions of PDF-XChange Viewer v2.5.x (Win XP and higher) and PDF-Change Editor v10.2.x (Win 7 SP1 and higher) that will create a watermark, but if you purchase the Pro (paid) version you have the option to remove watermarks (Edit | Watermark button | Remove).

If this legacy PDF-XChange Viewer v2.5.322.10 works with your own US tax forms note that a PDF for the user manual is also available for download from PDF-XChange Co Ltd :: Downloads.

So, I decided to do a system restore and, of course, I get the "did not complete successfully" message. From experience, I know that doesn't always mean changes weren't made....

An incomplete system restore often occurs if the user did not disable their antivirus (or antivirus self-protection module) before starting the system restore.

If you are still using a legacy Norton Security v22.15.x as your antivirus see the Norton support article Fix System Restore Problems with Norton Product Installed about how to disable Norton Product Tamper Protection before running a system restore.

 

[Vistaar]

...installed AR DC on one of my Win 7 system. It imported the 1040 and I filled it out in less than 10 minutes. The new problem is printing it out to my printer which is connected to my Vista system. I was able to add my printer to Win 7 but it wouldn't print....I was able to print a test page from Win 7 but nothing else. When I try to print the 1040, Win7 says it's printing but it's not going to my printer even though it's shown when I do the print....I haven't tried getting the completed file off of Win 7 and trying it but I expect I'll get the same error.

I rarely used Vista for printing and never ran Windows 7, so I won’t try to solve your Windows 7 printing issue. If you copy the completed form to removable media and then copy it to your Vista system, can you print it then? If not, maybe take the removable media to Office Depot (or similar) and pay them to print it.

If you’re ever going to get a new PC, this might be a good year.

 

[wither 3]

I got looking at what "extensions" means. Apparently, they allow one to edit PDF files in a Chrome browser. It might be that if I can figure out how to disable them in my Chrome browser, I might be able to use the downloaded form. I'm going to try downloading from a non-Chrome browser. Tried Firefox and simply saved the file without opening it. Got the same extension error in AR X.

One of the things I did the other day is print the form from the browser. I then scanned the page from my printer to PDF. The only way I can edit it is to select Sign, Insert Text. That works but it doesn't recognize tabbed locations within the document.

 

[wither 3]

I didn't know that imacri and Vistaar had replied before my last post. Before I address any of that, I went back to my Win 7 machine a few minutes ago and tried to print the completed form to my printer and, oh my gosh, it worked.

imacri- I downloaded the portable version and it works. The only issue is that the numbers in the social security number boxes don't center perfectly. The last digit in each part of the number, overlaps the little divider on the form. Don't think that would be an issue. Thanks for that (actually, Vistaar mentioned it in his first response but I didn't know anything about the portable version and the regular version wouldn't download when I tried it).

Vistaar- thanks for the information concerning the Norton effect on the system restore. I do have the Tamper Protection on.

Phew, I started this thread with tongue in cheek and didn't know I would get such great responses.

I'm not going to upgrade to Win 11 as long as this system survives. It does everything I need with the software I have. However, I might do an image more often. I also have three systems with Win 7 on them and practically all the software I have that is dedicated for specific purposes works in Win 7. Might have to do some serial number fixes with some of the vendors.

 

[wither 3]

Just for S & G's, I opened the Win 7 file in PDF-X and all SSN numbers line up appropriately.

 

[Vistaar]

Support for Adobe Reader X ended in November 2015, and personally I never used it after that. I was one of the few who found that Adobe Reader XI worked perfectly even though Vista was not mentioned in its system requirements (but Windows Server 2008 and even Windows XP were listed). The final update (11.0.23) was released in November 2017, two years after the final Reader X update (10.1.16). Nothing in this thread suggests to me that installing Reader X is preferable, although Reader XI might be about equally useless in 2024.

 

[lmacri]

if you're really stuck you might want to try Tracker Software's free PDF-XChange Viewer v2.5.x (for Win XP and higher) on your Vista machine. That is the legacy PDF reader I used on my Vista SP2 machine and it is still available for download at PDF-XChange Co Ltd :: Downloads, but that product has not been supported since 2018 and has been replaced by a newer PDF-XChange Editor v10.2.x that requires Win 7 SP1 and higher

Just for S & G's, I opened the Win 7 file in PDF-X and all SSN numbers line up appropriately.

Hi wither 3:

Glad it worked with your fillable forms.

You didn't mention which PDF_XChange product you tried, but if you need a PDF reader for your Win 7 SP1 machine keep in mind that the free PDF-XChange Editor v10.2.x currently runs on Win 7 SP1 and higher and is still fully supported (i.e., it receives regular security patches per the version history <here>, unlike the legacy PDF-XChange Viewer v2.5.x for Win XP and higher). PDF_XChange Editor is also available as a portable (.zip) edition that you can run from any location, including a removable USB stick, if you don't want to use the .exe installer to install this program on your hard drive. One advantage of installing a PDF-XChange product on your hard drive is that you will be able to configure it as your default PDF reader.

 

[wither 3]

Hi imacri-

I did mention that I downloaded the "portable" version of Viewer which is v2.5 build 322.10 on my Vista system. I used AR DC on my Win 7 and it works nicely. Thanks for the additional information.