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Cannot retick a checkbox after unticking it in a form #664
Description
Distribution
Mint 22
Package version
4.2.2
Frequency
Always
Bug description
In a PDF form, after unticking a ticked checkbox, it cannot be ticked again.
Steps to reproduce
- Download a PDF form (e.g. https://media.wizards.com/2022/dnd/downloads/DnD_5E_CharacterSheet_FormFillable.pdf) and open in Document Viewer
- Tick and untick any checkbox
- Try to tick the same checkbox again
Expected behavior
The checkbox should be able to be ticked
Additional information
It seems that ticking and unticking a checkbox fundamentally changes something about the PDF. If you follow the steps below:
- Open a PDF form in Document Viewer
- Tick and untick any checkbox
- Save a copy to disk
- Open the copy in Firefox
- Tick the same checkbox (it works)
- Save a second copy to disk
- Open the second copy (in either Document Viewer or Firefox)
Even though it looked like the checkbox was able to be reticked in Firefox, the checkbox remains unticked in the second copy.
Activity
poldon commentedon Mar 10, 2026
I just noticed this exact behavior in version 4.6.3. It appears to be losing the checkmark image itself in some of the boxes. When I use Chrome to open the same PDF after a copy was saved by xreader, clicking in the box shows no checkmark, but Chrome seems to be treating it like a checkbox that is clickable. Use the IRS Form 1065 PDF as an example. This is what I was working on when I suddenly couldn't check some of the boxes.