Participant

Question

Adjusting text tracking value in form field

Forum|Forum|9 months ago
June 13, 2025
2 replies
347 views

I'm looking for some help with the formatting of text within a text field in a form.

I'd like to set the tracking — also sometimes known as letterspacing, i.e. the space between each letter in a given string of text — of the text that the user enters. Unfortunately my searches for text tracking return results relating to track changes, so I'm unable to find what I'm looking for.

I'd like a solution which genuinely formats the tracking value of the text, not a workaraound like adding a space character between each character entered into the form.

If it is possible to do using Javascript, I do not mind whether it is a Custom format script or a Custom keystoke script.

If it is not possible to implement using Javascript, I'd be interested in knowing whether it is possible to set the tracking value in another way. As far as I can see, there is no way of changing the tracking within the standard formatting options.

Thanks for reading!

PDF Automation Station

Community Expert

I'm not sure this what you are getting at, but in the options tab of the field properties, select Comb of and enter the number of characters (the number you select will be the max. number of characters that can fit in your field). They will be spaced exactly the same for the size of the field if the maximum characters is reached. You can experiment with field size and character number. If that's not your solution, please provide more context for exactly what you are attempting accomplish.

R

richard-mcdonaldAuthor

Participant

I'll test the Comb of approach out, but I suspect that it will but each of the letters in an equally sized box? That's not quite what I'm after.

The default, with 0 tracking applied is this:

But what I would like is text with positive tracking applied, like this:

I am trying to set up a template to be used for award certificates, where the recipient's name is capitalised. I am able to use Javascript to ensure that the inputted text is capitalised, but I would also like to increase the space between the letters in order to make it look more elegant.

PDF Automation Station

Community Expert

Yes,the Comb of approach is as you described. The space between letters depends on the selected font.

T

Tariq Dar

Legend

Hi @richard-mcdonald,

Thanks for the question. At this time, Adobe Acrobat (Pro or Standard) does not offer a built-in way to adjust tracking or character spacing within interactive form fields (i.e., text fields added via Prepare Form).

Here’s what’s currently possible in Acrobat:

What You Can Customize in Form Fields:

Font face, size, color
Alignment (left, center, right)
Multi-line or scrolling behavior
Auto font sizing to fit text in a field

Note: However, tracking/letter spacing is not supported for form field text in the Acrobat form editing UI.

Possible Workarounds:

Pre-set text in a static field:
- If the text doesn’t need to be editable, you can use a Text Box (not a form field) from the “Edit PDF” tool, apply tracking adjustments in another program (e.g., InDesign or Illustrator), and then import as PDF content.
Custom JavaScript (limited):
- Acrobat JavaScript doesn’t provide access to tracking controls either.
- You could try spacing text manually (adding spaces between characters) with JavaScript, but it’s unreliable and not dynamic or professional-looking.

Also, wait for more input from experts.

~Tariq

What You Can Customize in Form Fields:

Possible Workarounds:

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