Strange new pdf animal? Anyone know how to print it?

[John B. Smith]

This is a long way from building computers, but I've
seen other posts that strayed at least as far, so here
goes: New York State is determined to 'encourage' us
to file our taxes online to spare them work. The past
few years I have been using AARP volunteers to
help/check my taxes and then file them online for me.
So I've never actually done it myself or want to. But I
do like to download the forms and pencilwhip them
before visiting AARP for my free help. (NYS can no
longer afford to distribute forms to us so we are
supposed to wear out OUR printers). Soooo... I find
the form I want online and attempt to print it out as I
usually do.

https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/current_forms/it/it201_fill_in_2d.pdf

This turns out to be some new (to me) kind of pdf that
resists being printed. If you attempt to Print Preview
in Firefox you see a message that says 'to print use the
'Green Button' on page one'. I don't have such a
button. I've tried several browsers and different pdf
readers, no help.
If I was going to attempt to fill the form out online
(remember all I really want to do is print it out and
pencil whip it) it resists this also.
I am working in XP, though I have Win7 available.
Seems to me a late model browser (my Firefox is
51.0.1) it would be the same in both OSs.

Don't you wish you lived in NY so you could have this fun too?

[Bob F]

I tried opening your pdf, and it went straight to a windows print box
after a momentary flash that might have been your "green button"

[Paul]

PDF supports the inclusion of Javascript, and even supports
movie playback within a PDF.

Not all PDF clients will have such features enabled. My Javascript
is turned off here, for security reasons.

Script kiddies on the net, place Javascript malware inside
PDF files. Typically, if you use a search engine, and click
a search result, you might see a PDF immediately start to
download. This is one of the telltale signs of an infected
PDF (the attempt to get the file to open immediately,
before the user has a say in the matter).

This is why Javascript may be turned off on your PDF client.

*******

If I scan the file on Virustotal.com (a Google company), this is what it says:

https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/bc37198404ae6e1c89ed9805e872efe23aa7e7c99e343bbdc4abf97ff67d94da/analysis/1487790428/

PDFiD information

This PDF file contains an automatic action to be performed
when a given page of the document is viewed. Malicious PDF documents
with JavaScript very often use an automatic action to launch the
JavaScript without user interaction.

This PDF document contains AcroForm objects. AcroForm Objects
can specify and launch scripts or actions, that is why they are
often abused by attackers.

This PDF document contains 22 object streams. A stream object is
just a sequence of bytes and very often is only used to store images
and page descriptions, however, since it is not limited in length
many attackers use these artifacts in conjunction with filters
to obfuscate other objects.

This PDF document uses JBIG2 compression. This is not necessarily
an indication of a malicious PDF, but further investigation is
recommended as it may reveal the presence of vulnerable filters.

This PDF document has Digital Rights Management or needs a password to be read.

This PDF document has 5 pages, please note that most
malicious PDFs have only one page.

This PDF document has 443 object start declarations and
443 object end declarations.

This PDF document has 435 stream object start declarations and
435 stream object end declarations.

This PDF document has a pointer to the cross reference table (startxref).

*******

The level of password protection, is probably there to prevent
editing and redistribution of illegitimate copies.

*******

I can pull the document into GIMP (free image editor), and
I've adjusted mine so it handles PDF properly (it was busted
a couple weeks ago, but I guess I found the recipe to fix it).
Depending on your platform, you could give GIMP a try, if you
need to convert the PDF to an image, and from there, print
the image to a printer. When parsing the PDF, you can set
the resolution - a higher resolution setting, makes the image
file larger. Note that GIMP saves the five page document as
"five layers". Using the Layers Dialog, you click the radio box
for each layer, to make the layer underneath visible. If you
weren't aware of this, you might miss where the pages went :-)

https://s10.postimg.org/htb8jt2vt/tax.gif

But that would miss the point of the document. It's probably
intended for online filling, and auto-calculation, followed
by a clean print of the results. (No, I'm not turning
on Javascript to test it :-) )

*******

Adobe has another kind of (incompatible) feature called XFA.
That is sometimes used for making fancy forms. On Linux,
maybe only the Adobe client (acrobat reader) supports this,
but Adobe has stopped maintaining their Linux port of Reader.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XFA

"XML Forms Architecture"

Paul

[John B. Smith]

On Wed, 22 Feb 2017 14:50:52 -0500, Paul <nos...@needed.invalid>
wrote:

I downloaded GIMP, and sure nuff, it let me print each layer as a page
of the tax form. And save each layer as an image in the GIMP format,
so I can quickly open them again to reprint. I tried opening the pdf
as an image with Photoshop5 and IrfanView but they wouldn't take it. I
anticipated saving the layers as jpg's but GIMP only does its own
format. Accomplished what you suggested anyway. Now I just got to get
up gumption again to get back at my taxes.

[VanguardLH]

I disabled Javascript in my PDF viewer. Restricting print is not a
Javascripted function of the PDF document. PDFs can have attributes
assigned within them to restrict permissions, like editing, copying, and
printing.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwjq4b-yyqTSAhUHVyYKHTe8CXIQFggcMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.adobe.com%2Fcontent%2Fdam%2FAdobe%2Fen%2Fproducts%2Facrobat%2Fpdfs%2Fadobe-acrobat-xi-protect-pdf-file-with-permissions-tutorial-ue.pdf
https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/how-to/security-permissions-protect-pdf-files.html

Use a PDF viewer or tool that does *not* honor those attributes.

http://www.wikihow.com/Unlock-a-Secure-PDF-File

Another possiblity is the .pdf file contains 2 versions of the document:
alternate content for screen and print. For example, watermarks in the
screen content is normally not printed but an annotation flag can make
it printable, and another annotation flag to make them no appear in the
screen content. You might see a watermark that also prints, or see the
watermark but it is not in the printed output, or you don't see the
watermark but it is in the printed output. Another example are PDF
viewers or web browsers that add their own print-only content to a PDF,
like current date, time, and docpath as a footer or header to a corner
of the page. What you see (screen content) is not necessarily what you
get when printed (print content or flagged).

My guess is that the author does NOT want users to print the document.
It has fillable forms. The user fills in the forms, saves the updated
copy, and then sends the .pdf (not a printed copy) to the tax agency.
They never want to get a paper copy. They want only the modified .pdf
file. They designed it for their use, not however the taxpayer wants to
use. There a many tricks, er, attributes within PDFs that do not
require Javascript (but may be enhanced with Javascript).

When I enabled Javascript in my PDF viewer (PDF-xchange Editor), they
used it to prevent me doing much with the PDF in that viewer app. They
inserted a bitch page saying my PDF viewer is missing some features
required for their document and to use Adobe Reader instead. That
doesn't mean that my PDF viewer is deficient. It just means their
Javascript detected a viewer other than Adobe Reader being used to load
their document. There could be some function in Adobe Reader that is
not available in other PDF viewers that this document tests is
available. The in-built PDF viewer in Firefox and Chrome are obviously
not the same code as in Adobe Reader, and the same for any other PDF
viewer app. The OP never mentioned testing Adobe Reader with this PDF
(I'm not going to bother installing Adobe Reader to test the behavior of
this document within that app).

A screen capture program doesn't know about or care about internal
attributes of a document. They just snap a capture of whatever is
presented on the screen. Some will automatically scroll the document to
capture all of it (e.g., PicPick - but this one would not scroll much in
my choice of PDF viewer for this particular PDF, but another PDF viewer
+ screen capture tool might work). There are PDF capture tools (e.g.,
PDF Snipping Tool - never used this one myself). However, from the
above test with a non-Adobe PDF viewer with Javascript enabled, any
window capture tool may fail unless Javascript is disabled in the
non-Adobe PDF viewer.

[John B. Smith]

Vanguard writes:
>My guess is that the author does NOT want users to print the document.
>It has fillable forms. The user fills in the forms, saves the updated
>copy, and then sends the .pdf (not a printed copy) to the tax agency.
>They never want to get a paper copy. They want only the modified .pdf
>file. They designed it for their use, not however the taxpayer wants to
>use. There a many tricks, er, attributes within PDFs that do not
>require Javascript (but may be enhanced with Javascript).

I totally agree with your assessment. And it makes me boiling mad. No,
I did NOT want to print his precious little document, that jumped-up,
overpaid bureaucratic know-nothing. Why couldn't he simply provided me
ANOTHER form that COULD be printed and pencil-whipped as I intend to
do?
Except what was that about the 'Green button' that's supposed to print
it?????
I'm guessing also that to 'fill in' the form online I'm supposed to
open it in their very own pdf reader. My library is offering classes
in how to do this. I should really take some time off work to attend.
Guess my paycheck would reflect no nys tax taken out that day.

I have found no one else that is mad about this besides me. Maybe
TurboTax has already converted all the young people into filing online
and they think nothing of it. I always said if the govt wanted me to
file online I shouldn't be paying for TurboTax. Maybe I got my wish,
so beware what i wish for huh?

[VanguardLH]

John B. Smith wrote:

> Vanguard WROTE:
>
>> My guess is that the author does NOT want users to print the
>> document. It has fillable forms. The user fills in the forms, saves
>> the updated copy, and then sends the .pdf (not a printed copy) to
>> the tax agency. They never want to get a paper copy. They want only
>> the modified .pdf file. They designed it for their use, not however
>> the taxpayer wants to use. There a many tricks, er, attributes
>> within PDFs that do not require Javascript (but may be enhanced with
>> Javascript).
>
> I totally agree with your assessment. And it makes me boiling mad. No,
> I did NOT want to print his precious little document, that jumped-up,
> overpaid bureaucratic know-nothing. Why couldn't he simply provided me
> ANOTHER form that COULD be printed and pencil-whipped as I intend to
> do?

Why does the gov't require me to fax in documents instead of e-mailing
them? They still embrace ancient technology under the false believe
that faxing is more secure then e-mailing. There is encrypted faxing
but equipment must be present on both ends. Sending an unencrypted fax
is no more secure then sending an unencrypted e-mail.

By the way, you can get an online copy as .pdf of that tax form. Look
at their web page:

https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/ads/efile_addit201-2d.htm

Look at the bottom of the page where it says:

"Print our standard paper Form IT-201, Resident Income Tax Return
(instructions), and complete it by hand."

That has a link to the not-screwy PDF version. Notice the minor
differences in the URLs:

https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/current_forms/it/it201_fill_in_2d.pdf
https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/current_forms/it/it201.pdf

The first one is what you tried. Try the second one.

For the first one, it had fillable forms. You could fill in the forms
and then print (maybe) the document with all your entries included. The
second one requires you print the template document and then write on
the hardcopy to fill it in.

Don't know how you navigated their site to find that problematic PDF
file. I just did a Google search to find the /pit/ads/ web page:

https://www.google.com/search?q=irs%20form%20it201

> Except what was that about the 'Green button' that's supposed to print
> it?????

Since they bitch that I wasn't using Adobe Reader when I opened the PDF
to which you linked, my guess is that Adobe Reader has some added
functionality that my PDF viewer does not have. The boob author might
be relying on Chrome's inbuilt PDF viewer having some function. The
boob got way too tricky with the PDF to make it universally usable.
Could be it wasn't even his choice. I've had many arguments with IT
folks who were merely committing actions commanded by management. Not
everyone in any business are computer wizards. Some are pretty stupid
when it comes to computers.

[John B. Smith]

On Wed, 22 Feb 2017 16:50:59 -0600, VanguardLH <V...@nguard.LH> wrote:

>
>By the way, you can get an online copy as .pdf of that tax form. Look
>at their web page:
>
>https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/ads/efile_addit201-2d.htm
>
>Look at the bottom of the page where it says:
>
>"Print our standard paper Form IT-201, Resident Income Tax Return

I'll be damned. I was on that page when I was desperately searching
for something like that, but I missed it. Since they're terrified
somebody's going to mail them a return, they should have embossed
something like "this form may NOT be filed as a return by mail" on it.

>(instructions), and complete it by hand."
>
>That has a link to the not-screwy PDF version. Notice the minor
>differences in the URLs:
>
>https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/current_forms/it/it201_fill_in_2d.pdf
>https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/current_forms/it/it201.pdf
>
>The first one is what you tried. Try the second one.
>
>For the first one, it had fillable forms. You could fill in the forms
>and then print (maybe) the document with all your entries included. The
>second one requires you print the template document and then write on
>the hardcopy to fill it in.
>
>Don't know how you navigated their site to find that problematic PDF
>file. I just did a Google search to find the /pit/ads/ web page:

I believe I Googled 'it-201'

>
>https://www.google.com/search?q=irs%20form%20it201
>
>> Except what was that about the 'Green button' that's supposed to print
>> it?????
>
>Since they bitch that I wasn't using Adobe Reader when I opened the PDF
>to which you linked, my guess is that Adobe Reader has some added
>functionality that my PDF viewer does not have. The boob author might
>be relying on Chrome's inbuilt PDF viewer having some function. The
>boob got way too tricky with the PDF to make it universally usable.
>Could be it wasn't even his choice. I've had many arguments with IT
>folks who were merely committing actions commanded by management. Not
>everyone in any business are computer wizards. Some are pretty stupid
>when it comes to computers.

It's possible that the Green Button magically appears once you've
completed the form online. I'm now suspecting you need TurboTax
software to write on it
I'll try to take an interest in how my AARP helpers do it when I'm in
there next month.

[David Samuel Barr]

I happen to be a CPA in New York and have used
(or avoided using; you'll see why later) these
forms for two tax seasons. [I've been on this
group for over ten years but mostly lurk now
after having been roundly chastised some years
ago for asking for advice about video software
for the machine I had built.] These forms are
supposed to be a printable paper alternative to
the preferred (and in many cases mandatory)
e-file. You are not expected to send a pdf file
to the state; they have nowhere for you to e-mail
it to (or to otherwise communicate with them in
that manner). You are supposed to type in the
blanks, print out the completed form and mail
it in, and it shouldn't be so hard to do so.

Until last year, the state used standard fill-in
pdf forms; you just opened the form, typed in
the available fields with your own numbers/text,
and printed the results. Last year, they
modified several of the primary forms to
generate 2D barcodes based on the field entries
to expedite the scanning and processing thereof;
the new forms also compute totals where needed
and, somewhat problematically, calculate the tax
due and the amount to be paid or refunded. (The
problem, I found, is that often the computed
taxes do not match those in the tax tables in
the published instruction book for the income
amount.)

When you open a 2D file (I use Adobe Reader on
various machines running XP, Vista, and 8.1,
with no problems), it first displays an
instruction sheet; when you click anywhere on
the sheet it goes away and presents the rest
of the form. The green PRINT button is clearly
visible in the upper-left corner of the first
page, next to a blue LINKS button and opposite
a red RESET one. When you have completed the
form (occasionally being guided or corrected
in your entries if needed), you need to use the
PRINT button to print it. The Reader's Print
and Print Preview functions will not work;
while the print menu will pop up, the preview
window will just display an order to use the
button instead and that's all the menu will
print, followed by blanks for any additional
pages in the form.

This all applies to those fill-in forms with
"2d" in their URL/file name before ".pdf".
Other less-used forms with just "fill_in" at
the end still use the old format. The problem
is that for the 2d forms, the state doesn't
provide a version in the old format as an
alternative; instead all they provide is a
non-fill-in form which you can print out and
complete by hand. It's hard to find but it
can be located at the bottom of the main web
page for each enhanced form. This is harder
for everybody, including them, but it's their
way of forcing use of the enhanced form. It
also turns out to be the only option if you
need to override the automatic results of the
enhanced form, or if you just want a copy to
mock up. The one you want is:
https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/current_forms/it/it201.pdf
(For other forms you may want in their non-2D
versions, you can save time digging through
the site by just entering the same URL but
replacing "it201" with the number you want,
e.g. "it2", "it201d", etc.)

I hope that's useful.

[Flasherly]

On Wed, 22 Feb 2017 21:38:08 -0500, David Samuel Barr
<dsb...@mindspring.com> wrote:

> having been roundly chastised some years
>ago for asking for advice about video software
>for the machine I had built.]

I've a ton of video software (older than just a few years ago) I'd use
to encode off video capture boards. What I used for a selection
criteria was based on discussions provided through forums at
http://www.doom9.org/. Good advice as well some with pro experience
providing answers. A big and challenging field -- broadcasting
engineering.

[Mike Easter]

John B. Smith wrote:

> VanguardLH wrote:
>
>> "Print our standard paper Form IT-201, Resident Income Tax Return
>
> I'll be damned. I was on that page when I was desperately searching
> for something like that, but I missed it.

>> That has a link to the not-screwy PDF version. Notice the minor
>> differences in the URLs:
>>
>> https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/current_forms/it/it201_fill_in_2d.pdf
>> https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/current_forms/it/it201.pdf

Since you now have a link to a normal instead of an 'enhanced'
(impaired) fill-in only form, one strategy for 'breaking' the
limitations of the enhanced form aren't necessary.

I saved the enhanced .pdf form to disk, opened it with a linux .pdf
viewer Evince document viewer, and printed the form to .pdf from Evince.
That allowed it/ the printed .pdf/ to be opened normally or printed
with typical Windows viewer/printers such as PDFXChange Viewer.

Previously opening the enhanced .pdf with PDFXChange showed me a front
page telling me I had to open the .pdf with Adobe reader and the rest of
the pages were invisible. That viewing of the .pdf also did not allow a
printing of the .pdf which would display the content pages.

--
Mike Easter

[VanguardLH]

David Samuel Barr wrote:

> These forms are supposed to be a printable paper alternative to the
> preferred (and in many cases mandatory) e-file. You are not expected
> to send a pdf file to the state; they have nowhere for you to e-mail
> it to (or to otherwise communicate with them in that manner). You
> are supposed to type in the blanks, print out the completed form and
> mail it in, and it shouldn't be so hard to do so.
>
> Until last year, the state used standard fill-in pdf forms; you just
> opened the form, typed in the available fields with your own
> numbers/text, and printed the results. Last year, they modified
> several of the primary forms to generate 2D barcodes based on the
> field entries to expedite the scanning and processing thereof; the
> new forms also compute totals where needed and, somewhat
> problematically, calculate the tax due and the amount to be paid or
> refunded. (The problem, I found, is that often the computed taxes do
> not match those in the tax tables in the published instruction book
> for the income amount.)

So this PDF is unusable unless the PDF viewer's Javascript is enabled.
Oh joy. Leave it to a stupid gov't boob to require a less-secure PDF
document to use it.

> When you open a 2D file (I use Adobe Reader on various machines
> running XP, Vista, and 8.1, with no problems), it first displays an
> instruction sheet; when you click anywhere on the sheet it goes away
> and presents the rest of the form. The green PRINT button is clearly
> visible in the upper-left corner of the first page, next to a blue
> LINKS button and opposite a red RESET one.

Those buttons are NOT present when viewing their .pdf in PDF-xchange
Editor. Apparently those buttons are not present in other *non*-Adobe
PDF viewers, too, from the responses by others. Must be an Adobe Reader
specific function. When I view that .pdf in PDF-xchange Editor, and
even when if I enable Javascript in that PDF viewer, the "first page" is
says "WARNING: PLEASE USE A DIFFERENT PDF VIEWER" (in red on yellow) and
then in black-on-yellow text tells you to use the Adobe Reader.

> When you have completed the form (occasionally being guided or
> corrected in your entries if needed), you need to use the PRINT
> button to print it. The Reader's Print and Print Preview functions
> will not work; while the print menu will pop up, the preview window
> will just display an order to use the button instead and that's all
> the menu will print, followed by blanks for any additional pages in
> the form.

Without Javascript (a security vulnerability) enabled in the PDF viewer,
those buttons are absent. Without using Adobe Reader, those buttons are
absent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2YZnTL596Q
"How about the [CO2] scrubbers on the command module?"
"It takes square cartridges. The one on the LEM are round."
"[Sarcastically] Tell me this isn't a government operation."

The 10 Stupid Things the U.S. Government Spends Money On
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb8kQRu-YkA

25 Craziest Things the U.S. Government Spends Money On
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmDp8DyasbE

[John B. Smith]

Somewhere in the mists of time I altered Adobe Reader 5 with some
program (think I even paid for it!) that allowed me to create pdfs.
But the way it did it was to add a button to Microsoft Word97 and its
sister Microsoft Excel. After that I was scared to update my Adobe
Reader. Now neither Word nor Excel works for me anymore at that
ancient version so I suppose I better just deinstall them and update
free Adobe Reader to its current version.

Sooo.... when I was fighting the Green Button mystery in my state tax
pdf, my old Adobe 5 Reader was not letting me decode the state's
arcane software. I wonder if jingle brains in Albany ever considered
that possibility when he invented his great new system.

[John B. Smith]

On Thu, 23 Feb 2017 08:50:30 -0500, John B. Smith <cra...@verizon.net>
wrote:

I guess this post is mostly worn out, especially for non-New Yorkers,
but i have a couple more tidbits that I find interesting, perhaps a
few others might:

I did dl Adobe Free Reader 11 and open the crazy 2D pdf with it. At
first it seemed to have the same problem but I somehow discovered that
"window sliders" won't work. They would just give me a message to read
the directions and when I ok'd it snap back to the top of the page.

(Yeah, probably not the right name, it's what I'm called those things
on the left and right of the window that you drag with a mouse in
order to read print further down the page)

The workaround is to simply use the page arrows at the top of the page
to bump it into the next page. (Reason I use window sliders is cause
my ancient eyes cannot read text on the screen. Eyes have weakened
enough so that even computer glasses won't help anymore. My regular
distance lenses (now interocular lenses since cataracts surgery) work
about as well. So I almost always resort to using ctl + to increase
print size. So I cannot read a whole page at once once magnified liike
that, but must use the sliders. So the sloppy programming in the pdf
is discriminating against old taxpayers.)

So now i can get the 2nd page and even type into it, still no Green
Button. Ah, but somewhere along in the process of filling in the form,
or saving it, and bingo that Green print button magically appears.
Click it and nothing. But SOMEWHERE along the way, maybe when I tried
to close the doc, and bingo there was my printer dialogue window.


This has been a pretty useless discussion for 99% of you guys out
there, but I sure wish I could have read all these replies when I
first starting fighting with my nys taxes.

[Arnie Goetchius]

I used the free Foxit reader at
https://www.foxitsoftware.com/products/pdf-reader/

It allowed me to open the fill in version of your form but immediately gave a
paragraph about how the software would not work and I should try something else.
However, it did let me open the file and let me start entering data on the
various lines and save the file. So it looks like Foxit will work if you just
ignore the protests :-)

[Paul]

John B. Smith wrote:

>
> At first it seemed to have the same problem but I somehow discovered that
> "window sliders" won't work.

Those are scroll bars.

If the scroll bars weren't present for some reason,
then there should be page navigation buttons. If
desperate, you could even try PageUp and PageDown
keys.

Paul

[Loren Pechtel]

On Wed, 22 Feb 2017 16:50:59 -0600, VanguardLH <V...@nguard.LH> wrote:

>Since they bitch that I wasn't using Adobe Reader when I opened the PDF
>to which you linked, my guess is that Adobe Reader has some added
>functionality that my PDF viewer does not have. The boob author might
>be relying on Chrome's inbuilt PDF viewer having some function. The
>boob got way too tricky with the PDF to make it universally usable.
>Could be it wasn't even his choice. I've had many arguments with IT
>folks who were merely committing actions commanded by management. Not
>everyone in any business are computer wizards. Some are pretty stupid
>when it comes to computers.

It occurs to me, could this be some sort of validation failure going
astray? The form is trying to santiy check the fields before printing
and that's failing because it's not filled in?

[toml...@gmail.com]

Did you click on the button at the bottom of the first form that says, "Click to continue to Form IT-201"? After you do that, the green button will appear at the top of the form but you have to fill in the information first or you will get an error message that the fields marked in red have to be filled in first.

Tom L

[zm...@zmix.net]

On Wednesday, February 22, 2017 at 12:55:48 PM UTC-5, John B. Smith wrote:

Yes it's so annoying.. and the State has no ideas.. I'm on a Mac and found that by using this "PDF Writer" app I can save is as a PDF for printing at Kinkos.. PDFwriter_for_Mac_1.2.1

[Larc]

On Wed, 7 Mar 2018 07:56:24 -0800 (PST), zm...@zmix.net wrote:

| > https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/current_forms/it/it201_fill_in_2d.pdf
| >
| > This turns out to be some new (to me) kind of pdf that
| > resists being printed. If you attempt to Print Preview
| > in Firefox you see a message that says 'to print use the
| > 'Green Button' on page one'. I don't have such a
| > button. I've tried several browsers and different pdf
| > readers, no help.
| > If I was going to attempt to fill the form out online
| > (remember all I really want to do is print it out and
| > pencil whip it) it resists this also.
| > I am working in XP, though I have Win7 available.
| > Seems to me a late model browser (my Firefox is
| > 51.0.1) it would be the same in both OSs.
| >
| > Don't you wish you lived in NY so you could have this fun too?
|
| Yes it's so annoying.. and the State has no ideas.. I'm on a Mac and found that by using this "PDF Writer" app I can save is as a PDF for printing at Kinkos.. | PDFwriter_for_Mac_1.2.1

I get a message that this form needs Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat 5.0 or higher. My
Foxit PDF reader apparently lacks a necessary feature. Sounds as if the State of NY
is trying to push Adobe.

Larc

[Paul]

Acrobat has XFA and Javascript (JS) support amongst others.

Third-party readers are intended as readers, so they don't
support all the features.

XFA support starts in Acrobat Reader 6, with the barest of support.
Which suggests that the document may be relying on Javascript alone
for something (since the document claims to work in Acrobat 5).

When I switch on Javascript in Acrobat 6, the "buttons" appear.
Browsers without Javascript (Firefox and MSEdge) show the
yellow warning text to go find a reader with Javascript support.

https://s10.postimg.org/tltt5oxbt/needs_javascript.gif

Paul