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siddiqui278198039te1
Known Participant
January 11, 2024
Question

Adobe Forms- Duplicating Textboxes

  • January 11, 2024
  • 3 replies
  • 801 views

Hello everyone,

 

Being a proficient knowledgable user of Adobe forms, there is one thing that I still have not figured out and need assistance with. I have to create textboxes multiple one for a document over 300 pages. If I create using the Duplicate forms option in Adobe Acrobat, the boxes are copied over to all the pages in one go, but then those boxes are not unique. That forces me to change the name of each box individually and for a 300 page document, that takes time.

 

Is there is a solution that can expedite the above task?

 

Thank you

 

 

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    3 replies

    R
    Rob25956410ueg9
    Participating Frequently
    January 19, 2024

    You may want to take a look at...

    https://www.try67.com/tool/easily-rename-pdf-fields

    I haven't used this particular tool but have used many of try67's other PDF tools, defintely saves a ton of time.

    Thom Parker
    Community Expert
    Thom ParkerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    January 19, 2024

    If you are in the development phase of creating the form. It is much better to use console scripts to create fields than to rename them.  The script I provided above will create all the fields with the require name and properties, and in the correct location in less then one second.   

    Let me repeat that. The one small console script will create all the fields in this field set exactly the way you want in less than one second.  

    You will need to spend a little bit of time getting the correct location and working out the field properties that will need to be set. But that's peanuts compare to the effort required to rename existing fields. 

     

    To do this. Start by placing a field on the first page.  Name it "Text1" and put it in the position and set the properties the way you want. 

    Next, run this code in the console window

    this.getField("Text1") .rect

     

    This give you the exact rectangle you'll need for the script. Next, look up the names of the properties the field needs in the Acrobat JavaScript reference:

    https://opensource.adobe.com/dc-acrobat-sdk-docs/library/jsapiref/JS_API_AcroJS.html

     

    Run code similar to the line above for any properties that you don't know the value of. Since you've already set it up in the field. The returned values will be the ones you want to use in the script. 

     

     

    Thom Parker - Software Developer at PDFScriptingUse the Acrobat JavaScript Reference early and often
      Thom Parker
      Community Expert
      Thom ParkerCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      January 11, 2024

      It would be much easier to write a console script to create the fields using your own naming scheme. 

      For example:

      var oFld;
var rectField = [....];
var cBaseName = "MyField";
for(var i=0;i<this.numPages;i++)
{
   oFld = this.addField(cBaseName + i, "text",i, rectField );
   oFld.textFont = ...;
   oFld.textSize = ...;
   ... and whatever other properties need to be set...
}

       

      Thom Parker - Software Developer at PDFScriptingUse the Acrobat JavaScript Reference early and often
      S
      siddiqui278198039te1Author
      Known Participant
      January 19, 2024

      Hello Thom,

       

      Thank you for your response. So, I am not too familiar with scripting and its usage. I can tell you that all I really need to do is to create a textbox  that should have multi-line text in it and thats basically it.This textbox should be located on the right side of the page, on each page of a 300 pg document with the same dimensions and those boxes should be unique. This will save me time to change the name of each box individually and for a 300 page document, that takes time.

       

      Thanks in advance.

        Nesa Nurani
        Community Expert
        Nesa NuraniCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        January 11, 2024

        You can't rename fields with a script, but you can replace text fields with new fields in the same place and give those fields unique names using script, but if you have any formatting/scripts in old fields it will not copy to new fields.

        S
        siddiqui278198039te1Author
        Known Participant
        January 19, 2024

        Yes, you are right however, that does still present me with the same problem.

         

        Thanks though!

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