In general, database access, especially Excel file access, is an automation activity to be performed on a single machine running Acrobat Pro. Some require special enabling (not available in Acrobat Pro) to operate in Adobe Reader, and some will not operate in Reader at all.

All methods require the user's permission, and some methods require privileged access. By definition, importing and exporting data to/from a PDF touches the user's local system, so all Excel access operations are restricted by Acrobat.However, since Excel not a true database application there are some restrictions on how it can accessed by Acrobat. Using Excel with Acrobatīecause Excel is widely available and easy to use, it is massively helpful to be able access an Excel spreadsheet from Acrobat. A general discussion is provided here and implementation specifics for each methodology are provided in the articles linked below. Each mechanism addresses different workflow needs, but for AcroForms access is limited and indirect.

Fortunately, Acrobat provides some for functionality for Excel for both LiveCycle (XFA) forms and traditional AcroForms. As such, it is very important to be able to move data between Excel spreadsheets and PDF forms. But it is used like one and Excel is probably the most common local data storage mechanism in use today.

Import excel data into pdf