Skip to main content
A
Anonymous
July 19, 2016
Answered

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC - Text Properties Bar Greyed Out

  • July 19, 2016
  • 7 replies
  • 50238 views

I have seen this question many times when searching for an answer, but none of the solutions have worked for me. I've been using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC (15.4) for months to edit & comment on PDFs which I have printed and then saved as PDFs from an online mapping system. Up until today I have been able to use the CTRL+E shortcut to bring up the properties tool bar and change the properties of text boxes, call outs etc., including font properties. This is when in 'Comment' mode.

I am now only able to edit the text box properties - if I select the text itself all of the properties in the toolbar are greyed out.

I have tried:

  • Closing and reopening the program
  • Only having one document open at a time
  • Ensuring the document isn't read only or PDF/A
  • Ending the 'acrotray' process (I think that's what it was called)
  • Opening a previous document when I was able to change font properties - can't do so on any document, old or new, now
  • Checking the properties aren't 'locked'
  • Checking I have user rights on MS Edge (The mapping system used will only work on here, not IE)
  • Checking for program updates

One point which does seem coincidental is that when I first started this work several months ago I set all of the defaults as I needed them to be, and haven't changed them at all, up until last week. Doubtful that this is causing the issue but worth a mention all the same.

Please help! I need to resolve this issue ASAP in order to do my work!

Thanks!

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer AshuMittal9644438

I just found this alternate post for the same issue. (I started another post 5 days ago on the same topic).

It appears that this issue started with the Acrobat DC 2015.017.20050 update.

Adobe: Please resolve this immediately. How could this new release be published with such a substantial issue?!


Hi all,

We have released an update today that fixes the Properties Toolbar issue and you can now continue to use it outside the Commenting app as well. Please open Acrobat or Reader DC and visit Help > Check for updates to make sure you are on the latest patch.

Details about the release: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/release-note/acrobat-dc-august-02-2016.html

Please let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

-ashu

7 replies

Meenakshi Negi
Community Manager
Meenakshi NegiCommunity Manager
Community Manager
October 24, 2019

Hi All,

 

Adobe Acrobat and Reader official update (19.021.20049) containing the fix for this issue is now available. This update will be automatically pushed to all existing installations of Acrobat and Reader. You may also manually trigger the update early by opening the application and going to Help > Check for Updates.

For more information about this release, please refer to the following link: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/release-note/release-notes-acrobat-reader.html

 

Please try it out and let us know your feedback!

Thanks for your patience and support!

 

Regards,

Meenakshi

J
Jaebot
Participant
January 10, 2020

Sorry to have to be the one to bring up an old trend but I installed Acrobat pro DC today 10/01/2020 and am having the issue of Recognise text being greyed out. No updates are available so any help will be very much appreciated. 

A
Anonymous
January 28, 2020

I am having the same issue.  No updates available. 

 
 
Meenakshi Negi
Community Manager
Meenakshi NegiCommunity Manager
Community Manager
October 17, 2019

Hi T-Bone,

 

Thank you for reporting this issue.

 

We are aware of this issue and it has been reported to the team. They are working on to get this fixed.

Could you please confirm the application and OS version installed on your machine?

 

Regards,

Meenakshi

 

T
T-Bone0520
Participant
October 17, 2019
I'm using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC on a Windows 10 machine
T
T.Mercer
Participant
October 21, 2019

You're not alone! Same issue here, same OS and version.

T
T-Bone0520
Participant
October 17, 2019

I'm having the same issue, all of a sudden. I like to color-code my fonts so team members know which comments are intended for them. Today, suddenly I'm having issues. I highlight the text properties box, which used to pop up automatically whenever I started a text commend no longer does, clicking on the Aa button works about 10% of the time, and when it does pop up, clicking on the color box makes it goes away and the Aa then greys out on me. Using the Ctrl + E method works, but that is time-consuming for something that used to happen automatically!

    jrahcy
    jrahcy
    Participant
    July 4, 2018

    I have just installed this program and have the exact same issue. It's now 2018 and this thread started 2 years ago and still have the same issue. How is that possible??

    Every other function I use is fine but the Text function will not allow me to access the properties. I need to add text to documents and cannot change font size which pretty much renders this program useless for what i need.

    J
    john_dugan1
    Participant
    August 3, 2016

    Thank you for the patch link; I did indeed have a licensing module failure trying to run the update from DC (even after a remove/reinstall).

    But the patch worked without any problems.

    John Dugan

    A
    Anonymous
    August 2, 2016

    ashu​ Yes that update has worked for me, thank you very much.

    Sarojini_Nagar
    Community Manager
    Sarojini_NagarCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    July 19, 2016

    Hi nicolawhiteley23 ,

    Sorry for the inconvenience.

    This is a known issue and we are working on it .

    Until then you can use the new text properties.

    Highlight the text which is in the text box in the document and press CTRL+E or click "Aa" option from the menu bar after selecting the text.

    Let us know if this works .

    Regards

    Sarojini

    A
    Anonymous
    July 19, 2016

    Hi Sarojini,

    Highlighting the text and then pressing CTRL+E does not work but using the Aa option does, I had forgotten about this but hadn't added it to my custom toolbar as I always use the properties instead. Thank you for your help, however please could you let me know when there is a fix for this - looking at previous threads it seems to have been going on for many years!

    Thanks,

    Nicola

    UPDATE: Sarojini.Nagar, I have changed the font size and colour of text in a text box using the Aa option and want to make these choices default, but right-clicking and selecting 'Make Current Properties Default' isn't working. Can you advise how I can do this please? Many thanks.

    Sarojini_Nagar
    Community Manager
    Sarojini_NagarCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    July 19, 2016

    Hi nicolawhiteley23 ,

    We will let you know when we receive an update about the fix.

    With regard to your other query , please try right clicking in a text box and select the "Properties" option and check the box which reads " Make properties default" and click OK .

    Let us know if this helps .

    Regards

    Sarojini

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices