Strange new pdf animal? Anyone know how to print it?
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_f...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? |
Strange new pdf animal? Anyone know how to print it?
On 2/22/2017 9:55 AM, John B. Smith wrote:
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_f...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? 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" |
Strange new pdf animal? Anyone know how to print it?
John B. Smith wrote:
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_f...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? 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/b...is/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 |
Strange new pdf animal? Anyone know how to print it?
On Wed, 22 Feb 2017 14:50:52 -0500, Paul
wrote: John B. Smith wrote: 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_f...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? 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/b...is/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 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. |
Strange new pdf animal? Anyone know how to print it?
Paul wrote:
John B. Smith wrote: 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_f...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? 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/b...is/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 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=...utorial-ue.pdf https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/how-...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. |
Strange new pdf animal? Anyone know how to print it?
On Wed, 22 Feb 2017 15:46:16 -0600, VanguardLH wrote:
Paul wrote: John B. Smith wrote: 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_f...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? 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/b...is/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 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=...utorial-ue.pdf https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/how-...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. 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? |
Strange new pdf animal? Anyone know how to print it?
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_f...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. |
Strange new pdf animal? Anyone know how to print it?
On Wed, 22 Feb 2017 16:50:59 -0600, VanguardLH 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_f...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. |
Strange new pdf animal? Anyone know how to print it?
On 2/22/2017 5:08 PM, John B. Smith wrote:
On Wed, 22 Feb 2017 15:46:16 -0600, VanguardLH wrote: Paul wrote: John B. Smith wrote: 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_f...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? 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/b...is/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 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=...utorial-ue.pdf https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/how-...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. 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? 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. |
Strange new pdf animal? Anyone know how to print it?
On Wed, 22 Feb 2017 21:38:08 -0500, David Samuel Barr
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. |
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