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?

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"

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.